Cacti: Gifts of Endurance
by grachiel101
Summary: "Gaara-san! Gaara-san!" The girl called to him and held up a potted cactus. She smiled and said, "Do your best!" (GaaraXOC) (Other pairings coming up!) (Changed the title! Original is "Cacti"!)
1. Chapter 1

"Gaara-san! Gaara-san!" a soft voice called out to him.

Gaara turned away from his training to gaze at the black haired girl with cold eyes. His hands, which were raised, lowered, along with his sand which soon returned to the gourd on his back. The girl smiled and ran over to him carrying something behind her. Gaara glanced over at his siblings, Temari and Kankuro, who immediately looked away to gaze at the walls of the specially made training ground and the sky.

"Gaara-san!" The girl exclaimed again, calling his attention back to her. She looked up at him with wide blue eyes. She now moved the hidden gift into full view. A small, round cactus was held up in front of Gaara's eyes. "Ganbatte!*"

The boy stared at the prickly plant for a while, then down at the girl, who continued to grin foolishly. A large arm of sand swooped down and tossed the potted cactus to the ground, causing the clay to shatter into pieces. Gaara then turned and left the training site, leaving the girl, with her arms still held out, frozen with a smile on her face.

Temari and Kankuro both let out a deep sigh as soon as their little brother was out of sight, feeling the tension loosen up. As soon as they did so, the girl let her arms down and her face relax before bending down to pick up the pot's remains.

Temari looked down at her with eyes of pity and said, "Sorry, Yoko, about Gaara..."

"No, it's fine," Yoko interrupted, her smile reappearing on her face. "I'm just glad he is alive and well."

"I swear," the blonde girl sighed, "You're the only person who is brave enough to go up to him every day."

"Well," Yoko giggled, "I don't think there is much to be afraid about him... He's only twelve years old... just like me."

"Anyways," Kankuro cut in before Temari could retort, "I heard you got accepted as a genin! Congratulations!"

"Yeah!" the black haired girl nodded and replied, "Thanks!"

She glanced up at the sky before getting up on her feet and also leaving the training area. "I have to go! Bye now!"

"Weird girl," Temari commented in a low voice so Yoko wouldn't hear her. Kankuro nodded in agreement and shrugged. The Sand siblings waved to the retreating genin before turning to follow their brother.

Back then, nobody really knew why Yoko would always bring cacti every single day to Gaara, the renown monster of the Sand. No one really knew her, either. The people of the village only thought that she was either out of her mind, or a complete dunce. Nobody knew how this one girl would change the lifestyle of Sunagakure, or the future Kazekage's heart.

Yoko continued to deliver the cactuses to the Jinchuriki and was repeatedly rejected in the process. However, she pressed on, giving a new plant to Gaara, or trying to, every day, and when the three Sand siblings departed for the Chuunin Exam in Konoha, Yoko was the only one who saw them off.

"Gaara-san!" she called out, doing the daily ritual. Yoko held out a cactus that bloomed flowers and said, "Ganbatte*!"

This time, Gaara ignored her shouts and gift, clenching his fists as he walked off towards the Hidden Leaf village.

"Don't worry, _mother_..." he muttered to himself, "I won't give you blood as foul as hers..."

* * *

Gaara slowly opened his eyes, staring at the white ceilings of the Konoha Hospital while the rest of his body laid still. He wasn't asleep. No, he couldn't sleep. He slowly turned his head to his right to see the shadow of a boy lying down on the bed next to him. Even though a curtain separated Gaara from the neighboring patient, he could tell that it was Naruto from the dramatic movements and noises he made in his sleep. Gaara sighed and raised his left hand, which was bandaged, and held it out in front of him. He clenched it into a fist and opened it up again, remembering every single detail of his fight with Naruto. _Who knew someone like that would be strong enough to beat me..._ he thought.

"Ah, Sakura-chan~ Stop it~" Naruto moaned as he twisted around in his sleep. Gaara turned over to the curtain again. "Ha! I'm better than that jerk Sasuke, aren't I? Ne, Sakura-chan..."

_Sakura must be that pink haired girl... the one I trapped earlier... and Sasuke Uchiha... _Gaara turned away again. _I wonder... even though I did all that, I wonder if I can change..._

He let his hand drop only to feel prickly spikes stabbing the back of his hand. Alarmed, he swung his arm away, close to his chest, and turned to stare at whatever his hand landed on with wide eyes. It was a potted cactus with... a sleeping girl right next to it. Gaara tried to shuffle out of his bed as quickly as he could, but every inch of his body cried out in pain with every move. _When did she get here? Why didn't I notice it before? That cactus woman...no, girl..._

Yoko shifted in her position, her head resting on the mattress, and blinked open her eyes. She pushed herself up with her arms and drowsily looked up at Gaara with clouded eyes. She squinted at him before scrunching up her face and rubbed her eyes before blinking them open again, now in full size.

"Gaara-san!" She greeted.

"Why... you...?" Gaara stammered.

"I brought you another cactus!" Yoko exclaimed. She smiled and her hand instinctively grasped the clay pot and held it up to Gaara. She blinked rapidly at the cactus she was holding and squinted at it, scrunching up her face again. "That's weird..." she muttered, "There wasn't a dent in it when I bought it..."

Gaara just stared at her with blank eyes, thinking, _Is she an idiot or just clumsy?_

"Anyways, I heard from Temari-san and Kankuro-san that you worked hard in the chunin exam!" Yoko continued on, placing the plant on the bedside table. Gaara didn't make any motion of response, so she continued. "I'm glad that my charms worked!"

"Your... charms...?"

"Yeah! Hey, did you know that cactuses mean 'endurance' in plant language?" Yoko chirped on. She took Gaara's silence as a no and continued on. "Well, they do! And I started to get cactuses for you Gaara-san! Oh, yeah!"

Her mouth formed a long "o" as she balled her hands in to fists and raised them up in a punching motion. "Ganbatte, Gaara-san!"

He just stared at her, not saying a single word, letting her slowly become embarrassed of herself. Yoko slowly let her arms down, her face flushed a bright red, then turned around and dashed out the door. She skidded to a stop and quickly returned to the room to poke her head in and said "I hope you get better, Gaara-san!" before disappearing once more.

Gaara slid himself back underneath the hospital bed sheets and let out another sigh. He looked over at the now weirdly shaped cactus on the table next to him and reached out for it when somebody entered the room.

"Yo, Gaara, I just saw Yoko running out of the hospital before coming here-" Kankuro stepped inside to see a great flourish of movement and a white sheet being blown up in the air before gently gliding down on top of his brother. He blinked rapidly, a bit surprised by what he just saw. The small cactus rocked back and forth in its place before tipping over to one side.

"Uh..." Kankuro started to say something when Gaara turned his head to glare at him coldly. That immediately shut him up. The older brother laughed nervously before walking over to the bed and picking up the potted plant. He rolled it around a bit in his hands, careful not to touch the spikes, before setting it upright on the table. "I guess you're practically all better now," he commented.

Gaara nodded and replied in a solemn voice, "I think I'll be ready to go back to Sunagakure soon."

Kankuro nodded back, his face slowly becoming red from the bottom up. Gaara looked up at him strangely, not really getting it. The puppeteer's cheeks inflated a few seconds later and he turned away, his entire body shaking. Soon, laughter exploded out of him, filling up the entire room and making Naruto pull the pillows over his ears. However, he was still asleep. Kankuro let out soft giggles as he wiped the tears from his eyes, not being able to stop. He doubled over, using the wall to support himself, and continued to laugh while Gaara just stared at Kankuro with narrowed eyes.

"What... is it?" he asked quietly.

"Ah, sorry, Gaara," Kankuro gasped and finally straightened up. He let out a soft sigh and said, "That girl is just too much. Her face was hilarious. She just bolted out of the Konoha hospital with her cheeks all red. She looked as if she was running away from something, and after she took all that time to get here from Sunagakure and wait for you to wake up... I swear, that girl has way too much energy... What did you do to her?"

"Nothing," Gaara muttered and turned away from his brother. _She came from Sunagakure... and just waited for me the whole time? _The entire room grew quiet once more and Kankuro coughed weakly, feeling the tension grow on him.

"Erm, well, anyways, I'm glad that you're alright now, Gaara," he said before leaving.

As soon as the door slid shut, Gaara turned around again, back to the cactus on the bedside table. He gazed at it with eyes full of curiosity. _A cactus means endurance... huh..._ He reached out for it again before pulling back, remembering the prickly stabs from before, and turned away from it.

* * *

**I'm into Naruto again! _ _" 3**

**Please review and tell me what you think! 8D**

**Thank you so much for reading this chapter! X3**

***Ganbatte~ means "Do your best" in japanese :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Welcome back, Gaara-san!" Yoko greeted as she ran up to him.

Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro, along with some other Sand shinobi, had come back from the chunin exams in Konoha after Gaara had healed up. Yoko held out a potted cucumber shaped cactus with a smile on her face. As she did so, Kankuro smirked, wondering when she will ever stop with the gifts. Temari glanced over at Gaara, expecting him to slap it away again, and opened her mouth to say something when he took the plant. Gaara nodded in thanks to Yoko and passed by her, the cactus in hand. Dumbfounded, his elder siblings and Yoko stared at him with wide eyes as he walked off, their mouths hanging open.

Kankuro started to laugh and he pulled Yoko into a playful headlock. "You did it!" he exclaimed.

"I-I did it... he took it... he... Yes!" The girl punched upwards, knocking the older ninja off his feet and she hugged Temari. "He accepted it!"

"He... did... " Temari trailed off, still surprised about the whole thing. She never knew that there would be a day when Gaara would accept Yoko's gifts. There even seemed to be a slightly warm aura around him.

"Oh yeah!" Yoko let go of Temari and turned around to see Gaara's figured growing smaller by the second. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "THANK YOU, GAARA-SAN! GANBATTE!"

The red haired shinobi didn't even turn back, pretending to not have heard her. He could already feel the confused and curious gazes of the citizens of Sunagakure. Embarrassed, he hurried on his way, gripping the potted cactus with one hand while the dented one from before was hidden inside the sash around his waist.

* * *

"Alright! Nice going, Yoko!" Kankuro cheered, twiddling his fingers. "Now try it again!"

The girl nodded and bent her knees, quickly looking around at the puppets that now surrounded her. Her hands smoothly formed the seals and she raised her right arm. "Snake Wind Whip jutsu!" she cried out and lashed out a thick stream of wind mixed with fast moving chakra that erupted from her hand. Yoko's technique looked similar to a whip, except it was made of air and energy. She twirled around in a full circle, the wave slicing each of the puppets' chakra strings. They crumbled to the ground, now completely lifeless.

Kankuro chuckled and said, "I'm glad I didn't complete those and put them aside as junk. It would've been a waste if I let you burn down my completed puppets."

Yoko smiled, the jutsu on her hand disappearing, and she tackled the older boy, "I'm not done yet!"

"Not so fast!" he exclaimed, quickly dodging the attack before another of his puppets burst out of the ground beneath her. Yoko jumped aside just in time and her hands quickly formed the seals. The wooden doll's mouth opened up and began firing long needles at her en mass. The girl lashed out the same wind whip technique and deflected the weapons.

She quickly flipped out a kunai with an explosive tag attached. Yoko flung the weapon at the puppet and watched it blast into pieces when the blade met its target. She turned around, now eyeing Kankuro as he too, tensed up. Using the rapid movement of her jutsu to distract him, she lunged for his middle.

Temari leaned against the shadowy entrance to the stadium, watching the two of them with a content expression on her face. She and Kankuro now had a soft side for the younger genin and treated her like their little sister. Hearing footsteps behind her, Temari turned to see Gaara also watching Yoko's training.

"She's growing quickly, isn't she?" she said.

Gaara didn't say anything in reply, only silently watching the two Sand shinobi as they sparred. Temari took that as a yes and continued, "I always see her with a smile on her face... I can't imagine what she will look like when she's mad."

I can't either... Gaara thought to himself, but kept quiet. Suddenly, a messenger ninja appeared in front of them, causing Kankuro and Yoko to freeze in their places and look over.

"You're... from the Hidden Leaf," Temari noticed, "What brings you here?"

"The Fifth Hokage wishes for the Sand Siblings to assist the Konoha genin on their mission to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha. They are now heading for Otogakure. Because of the invasion, we haven't been able to send in a proper team, therefore, the Hokage requests your help," the messenger explained.

"Who's Sasuke?" Yoko asked as she bounded over, her eyes wide with curiosity. Nobody answered her.

"Tell her we will aid them shortly," Gaara said and glanced over at Temari and Kankuro.

"Ready when you are," his older brother nodded.

"Aw, what about training?" Yoko whined with a pout.

"We'll do it when we come back, we promise," Temari assured her. The Konoha shinobi departed for his village while the Sand Trio headed for the entrance to Sunagakure ready to leave. Yoko stayed back at the training site for a bit, digging her pockets for something and she ran over to them, kicking up sand behind her.

"G-Gaara-san!" she called out. Gaara turned around in time to see her trip on a stray rock and fall face first onto the ground. Kankuro winced as the girl fell on her face and moved forward to help her, but Gaara got to her first. He used his sand to create a large hand of earth and pick her up by the collar. The hand set her on her feet while Yoko bent down to brush the dirt off her clothes. She smiled and held out a perfectly round cactus to Gaara and said, "Ganbatte!"

He took the plant and left with his siblings for Konohagakure. Yoko stood there for a moment, pondering about what she should do. She grinned mischievously and muttered, "There's no way I'm going to be left behind. The tracking device I planted in the dirt next to the cactus will lead me to Gaara-san."

With that, she quickly dashed off after the Sand Siblings.

* * *

"You know..." Kankuro trailed off as he leapt from one tree branch to the next. They were now following the direction which the Sasuke Retrieval Team took and were deep in Fire Country Territory.

"Hm? What is it?" Temari demanded.

"I have a feeling... that someone might be following us," he replied.

"What do you mean?" Gaara now questioned.

"I think Yoko could be trailing us. I taught her how to use tracking devices... just a hunch."

"Actually, you could be right," Gaara muttered and landed on a thick branch of a tree. He turned around and carefully regarded his surroundings before shooting a pellet of sand at a shadowy figure that hid behind the trunk of a tree a few meters away from them.

"Ow!" A familiar voice cried out and Yoko stumbled out from her hiding spot, rubbing her forehead.

"I knew it," Kankuro grumbled.

"Yoko! What are you doing here?!" Temari demanded.

"Erm... going on a stroll?" she suggested, a circular red mark appearing where she rubbed.

"A stroll? In the Fire Country? Really?" Temari asked as she narrowed her eyes at the younger girl. Her brother's muffled chuckles sounded from behind her.

"B-But... I didn't want to be left behind...s-so I followed you..." Yoko sniffed, tears welling up in her eyes. The spot on her forehead where the pellet of sand hit throbbed in pain.

"A... Ah, okay! Okay! You can come with us! Right, Gaara?" Kankuro stammered, glancing over at Gaara. He just didn't want Yoko to start crying and cause a big scene.

Pakkun sighed, "Let's just get this over with."

Gaara stared at Yoko with wary eyes, debating on whether he should let her stay or send her back_. It's too late to send her back... We're already deep inside Fire Country territory, and if I do, she will start crying. On the other hand, if I let her stay... The worst case scenario would be her getting hurt badly, maybe even killed.._. _No, that won't happen. _He finally nodded, coming to a conclusion, and said, "You may stay."

"Yes!" Yoko exclaimed, punching her fist into the air. Temari shook her head_. Boys... They are too weak when it comes to tears..._

"Alright, Team! Since you've all agreed on an extra member, let's actually start this mission, shall we?" Pakkun barked, "A bit far off, I can smell Choji fighting with an opponent. Neji's quarrel is a bit closer, though."

"Where exactly, Dog-san?" Yoko asked.

"Fifty meters away at two o'clock."

_Dog-san? What's with Dog-san?_ The Sand siblings thought to themselves. Pakkun didn't seem to think of it very fondly either.

"Leave it to me!" She chirped, not noticing their weird expressions and she dashed off towards that direction.

As soon as she was gone, Pakkun said, "The rest of the team is farther up ahead, so-"

"Wait, what am I supposed to do again?" Yoko interrupted from below them. The soles of her shoes were sticking to the underside of the branch Gaara was on. Her long black hair that was tied back in a ponytail hung downwards as it gently shifted in the breeze.

"Aid Konoha's team in defeating their enemies and retrieving Sasuke Uchiha. You're going to Neji, specifically," the ninja dog replied.

"Right!" She said and disappeared with a poof.

"A shadow clone, huh..." Temari muttered.

"Please excuse her... She is a bit inexperienced with missions," Gaara apologized to Pakkun.

"It's quite alright," he assured, "Let's continue on."

* * *

_There's too many! I... I won't make it!_ Neji Hyuga thought as he faced the oncoming horde of spiders from above. He raised his arms, ready to deflect them once more, when a nearly invisible whip appeared out of nowhere and sliced the webs into pieces.

Kidomaru's eyes widened in surprise as he watched from afar. _What's going on!?_

"Snake Wind Whip!" A girl's voice yelled from above. She jumped down and landed next to Neji, her whip circling around her. She straightened up and smiled proudly, "Yoko of the Sand is here! Pleased to meet you!"

_This... feels like a deja vu..._ Neji squinted at the girl.

_From the Sand village? Then they have reinforcements! _Kidomaru clenched his teeth.

Yoko turned and held her hand out to the Konoha genin, "Hi, you must be Neji-san, right? I've come to help-"

"Watch out!" he cried out, shoving her to the ground as he cut the chakra webs that were about to bind her. The girl's eyes widened and she immediately got to her feet with a salute.

"Thank you, Neji-san!"

"Don't just thank me... pay attention!" he growled and looked up as the mother spider released more smaller bugs.

Yoko nodded and the whip on her hand disappeared. She dug into the pack strapped to her right thigh and pulled out a scroll. Letting it unravel itself, she punctured a hole in her thumb with her teeth and pressed her hand onto the seal on the paper. With a large poof, the small scroll dropped to the ground and a big cannon replaced it in Yoko's arms. The weapon measured around 30 centimeters in diameter and a meter in length. Yoko raised the cannon towards the mass of mini spiders and squeezed the middle of the cylinder, pressing her chakra into it.

"Fire Dragon Blast!" she cried out just before the cannon went off. A spherical bundle of fire and pressured chakra blasted right into the middle of the incoming group, making the spiders fly in all directions. Yoko cheered, "All right!"

"You... Yoko-san, right?" Neji asked.

"Yes?"

"Can you fire one more in that direction?" he motioned to where Kidomaru was hiding with his eyes, trying not to make it obvious for the target.

Yoko didn't even bother to look and with a smile, she whispered in reply, "I need at least a one minute interval between the shots."

"That's just too long!"

"I know! I'm working on it, Neji-san! I'm sorry!" Yoko said.

_Wait a minute... judging from the jutsu she used, she's a mid to long ranged fighter, while I'm short-ranged taijutsu user.. therefore..._ Neji spun around and struck at the spiders that relentlessly continued to attack. "Yoko-san!"

"Yes?"

"Move away a certain distance and strike at the opponent when you see an opening! I'll take care of this!" Neji commanded.

"Yes, sir!" Yoko nodded. She leaped into the trees and out of sight. Meanwhile, Kidomaru, who was hiding among the leaves, glared down at the Konoha shinobi that was now alone.

_This is bad..I have to quickly figure out the weakness in his range of sight and defeat him first! I have a feeling that the Sand ninja is trying to find me..._ Kidomaru clenched his teeth and swiftly moved away from his spot. _I'll just have to attack him with more spiders!_

The large spider from above roared, clacking its fangs, as the sack of its young opened up wider and twice the number of bugs than before rained down on Neji.

_Neji-san!_ Yoko's nails scraped the sides of her cannon as she watched from afar. She quickly looked around. _I have to find the enemy! Fast!_

_There's more than before!_ Neji grit his teeth as he lashed at the spiders, taking them down one by one. However, they were too fast and numerous for him. The chakra webs attached to the bugs soon wrapped themselves around the genin, slowing down his movement. Just when he sliced the binding apart like before, Kidomaru saw the chance and hurled his wooden arrows at him. Neji shifted his stance to dodge the weapons, and was able to see all, but one. It sliced at the upper arm, drawing blood. The spiders continued to fall upon the boy and when Neji's back was turned, Kidomaru threw his arrows once more.

_There! _He anticipated. One of his spears struck the genin's back. Neji collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood as he did so. He stumbled to his feet, feeling his energy being drained from him.

_Again and again and again!_ Kidomaru flung more arrows at the boy and they stabbed his back, shoulder, and even ripped his hair loose from its ribbon.

_ Found you!_ Yoko screamed to herself and jumped down to the opponent's hiding spot, lifting her canon to shoot. When she looked up, however, he was no longer there. _Wh-Where is he?!_

"Looking for someone?" a voice whispered in her ear. "You're a bit too slow..."

Before Yoko could say a word, Kidomaru's three right arms slammed into her side and her body was hurled towards the ground.

"Yoko... san...!" Neji croaked, also letting his knees give way.

* * *

**Please review and tell me what you think! thnx for reading! ^0^**


	3. Chapter 3

"For a kunoichi, you're pretty weak," Kidomaru snickered as he jumped down to where the girl lay. A thick dust cloud had risen because of the impact, making it hard for either Kidomaru or Neji Hyuuga to see Yoko.

_I... I can't give up... I have... To get up..._ Neji urged himself, trying to move his shaking arms. He could see his own blood splattered on the ground and soaking his tattered clothes, making the boy realize how serious the situation is becoming. He slightly tilted his head to look over at the dust cloud that covered Yoko. _Get away_, he thought_, get away from there while you can!_ Neji could tell that she was a beginning genin, much less an experienced one. Her whole future was waiting for her.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Kidomaru snarled and kicked at the cloud, feeling something solid under it. He smirked, guessing that it was the Sand shinobi, and raised his leg once more. "Get up!" He yelled.

A large metal cannon swung out from the dust and lashed at the boy, who instinctively caught it in his six hands.

"Ha!" He laughed, "Do you really think this would stop me?"

"No... Not really... Fire Dragon Blast!" Yoko cried out, jumping out of the dust cloud and pushing the point of her gun weapon closer to her opponent. A roaring ball of compressed chakra and blazing fire grew at an incredibly fast rate, already growing to the size of the girl's head in a second.

Kidomaru's eyes widened as the beam enlarged before him and he gasped, "What!?"

The blast set off when the technique became as big as a basketball and it created a deafening booming sound, causing Neji to cringe. Yoko narrowed her eyes to see if the attack had hit its mark. It didn't. Kidomaru smiled at her, holding the point of the gun over his shoulder. He had shifted it next to his head just in time before the ball reached its full mass. Behind him, three trees were blown apart while the remains burned in small flames.

"Too bad... However, I take that back. For a cutie, you're pretty dangerous at times," Kidomaru complimented. "But that won't save you."

As if on cue, Yoko collapsed onto her knees, blood spurting from her mouth. Her right arm lay helpless on the ground while her cannon was balanced on her left arm and shoulder. She slowly turned her head to look over at Neji who had not moved from his spot. She grit her teeth, tears welling up in her eyes in pain and frustration.

"Neji... Neji-san... Neji-san, GET UP!" Yoko screamed at the top of her lungs. Her piercing cry immediately brought the Hyuga boy to consciousness.

He smirked and muttered, "I was just about to. You didn't need to do that... I was just remembering something from the past."

Neji used his arms to slowly push himself up, then straighten. "You see..." He said, "Some idiots I know taught me to never give up."

* * *

"Neji-san!" Yoko exclaimed happily, her face beaming. She immediately got up and ran to his side. "Are you alright?"

"That's not the problem right now..." He muttered to himself.

Kidomaru retreated into the tree tops once more, clenching his teeth in frustration. As soon as he safely landed on a branch, hidden from the opponents' view, a cruel grin stretched out on his face.

"Fine then," he snarled quietly to himself, "I'll really become serious this time."

The large spider from above disappeared, along with its young as swirling marks slithered around the boy's body. The black curves branched out from his shoulder to his face, and as they did so, the skin turned brown. Horns sprouted from Kidomaru's forehead and his hair turned completely white. A deep crease formed above his two eyes and when it opened, another eye was revealed. Yoko froze in her place, a shudder running down her spine.

Thinking of an idea, Neji leaned close to Yoko and whispered something in her ear as quickly as he could, hoping she would understand the plan. The girl's eyes widened and she nodded, shifting her cannon completely on her shoulder. In the meantime, Kidomaru already had a bow and arrow ready. This time, at the end of the arrow was a thin strand of web that led to the inside of the user's mouth. This better hit! He thought, drawing the arrow carefully before letting it go. The weapon flew straight at Neji's back, aiming for the kill. Just before the it hit, a whip of wind lashed out from behind Kidomaru, who dodged it and quickly moved to a different hiding place. Yoko emerged from the mass of leaves, her Wind Snake Whip waving in the air.

_Wait... But how?!_ Kidomaru thought, glancing down at where Neji was standing: right next to the crater his arrow made. The kunoichi's cannon was left in the pit while its owner was no where in sight near it.

"That was a clone, stupid!" Yoko snickered, wielding her technique with her left hand. "I switched with my shadow clone in the dust cloud from earlier! All my other shadow clones are hiding in the brush of this area, waiting for you to appear!" With that, she disappeared on the spot with a poof.

"I can't see her anymore..." Kidomaru snarled to himself, "I have to be wary of where she is. I can't aim two arrows in different directions at once!" He fired again at Neji, and in his panic, he missed again. After the arrow hit the ground, Neji turned and started to run.

_Not so fast!_ Kidomaru fitted another arrow to his bow. When he was about to fire, Yoko's whip swung out from his right. Distracted, the cursed boy wasn't able to position his weapon correctly and missed the Konoha ninja again. He quickly moved to a different location.

Yoko jumped down to the place Kidomaru just left and disappeared once more. It was another Shadow Clone.

Another lance was flung at Neji and this time the point stabbed the boy in the back. However, a small smirk played on Neji's lips and soon, Kidomaru found out why. The Konoha shinobi's chakra ran up the web that was attached to the arrow and into Kidomaru's body, damaging him internally. Shocked, the spider-like boy fell back, diving to the ground below. Right after Kidomaru's feet left the safety of the branch, Neji tore the string apart and jumped up towards him, his hands ready.

"I cannot lose.. Because I am called a genius," Neji Hyuga said before striking him repeatedly, "Gentle Fist!"

However, Hyuga's justu was not the only thing that was waiting for Kidomaru. Right after Neji's blows had finished, Yoko ran over to her abandoned gun and kicked it up in the air, catching it with her left shoulder and arm. With the girl's fire nature chakra pressing into the cannon, the spherical mass glowed brighter and gained momentum faster than before. When the technique reached its limit, Yoko yelled, "Fire Dragon Blast!" And let it loose.

The justu caught Kidomaru in midair and struck him into the ground. The rapidly moving chakra tore the boy's clothes fiercely while the blazing flames licked and burned his skin. When the blast finally died down, Kidomaru lay still in the shallow crater, never being able to move again.

"Neji-san!" Yoko grinned as she turned to him, "We did it!"

Neji Hyuga slowly nodded and let his eyes close, his body crumbling to the ground. The Sand kunoichi rushed to his side and caught him before he fell, being careful not to touch the spikes embedded into his back.

"Oh no! You need medical attention immediately!" She exclaimed and slowly laid him down. "Uh-Uhm.. What do I do? What do I do? I don't think I should move him... Those arrows look pretty scary..."

She sighed as she gazed down at him and smiled, "But... Who knew the person I would team up with today would be so cool... "

Before she could make another move, she fell to the ground beside him. "I used... too much chakra..." She breathed quietly as her consciousness faded away. Above them, a white bird soared with elegance and pride in the bright blue sky.

* * *

Yoko's eyes fluttered open to see Temari and Kankuro's smiling faces. The girl smiled and greeted them, "Temari-san... Kankuro-san..."

"We... We were so worried!" Kankuro wailed as he dove down and hugged her.

Yoko blinked rapidly in surprise, suddenly feeling a warm wave passing through her entire body and she looked over at Temari. As she tried to sit up, she asked, "Wh-What about Neji-san? Where am I?"

"You're in Konoha's hospital and he's alright. He's resting over there," she replied and nodded to the curtain beside the girl's bed. Yoko quickly turned to hop out and visit him, but a sharp pain stopped her from doing so. Suddenly, a large hand of sand picked her up by the scruff and gently laid her back in bed before placing the white covers over her. The three Sand shinobi turned to see Gaara at the door of the room.

"You shouldn't get up yet," He said as he approached them, "You used the Dragon Head Cannon and wore out most of your chakra after all."

"Wait," Kankuro exclaimed, jumping back. He stared at Yoko with wide eyes, "You used WHAT!?"

"I used the gun," she replied for him with a blank expression.

"You're ready yet! No wonder why one of your arms are severely bruised and the other broken. Your rib cage is fractured, too," Temari sighed, shaking her head. "You have to start using it when your chakra can bond with the weapon and stop it from causing damage to your body with every blast."

"How many times did you use it?" Kankuro demanded, his eyes wide.

Yoko looked around the hospital room, trying to find something else to focus on. Nothing helped. Everything was way too clean and white. "Erm..." she started to answer in a soft voice. Her gaze returned to Kankuro, "I used the Fire Dragon... only three times."

He blinked slowly and repeated, "Only?"

"Yeah!" Yoko smiled brightly.

"If you did any more, you could've died! Three is your limit!"

"Oh... really? I thought it was four!" Yoko laughed. Her giggles slowly died away when she realized it wasn't really funny.

"Anyways," Gaara interrupted them, "We should go and visit the hokage and ask if we can help out with anything else. The village is still in a disarray."

"Ah... alright. Bye then, Yoko. Rest well," Kankuro nodded to Yoko while Temari waved.

Just before they left, the patient called out, "Gaara-san..."

The red haired boy looked back at her with a relaxed expression and said, "You did well."

With that, the Sand Siblings exited the hospital room

* * *

"I hate to admit it, but I actually thought she was going to flunk the mission," Temari complimented as soon as the door shut behind them.

"Yeah, she actually handled it pretty well for her first A-rank," Kankuro agreed, crossing his arms over his chest. "There really was nothing to worry about."

"You spoil her too much," his sister smirked and looked over at Gaara, who was oddly quiet. "Gaara, there's something I've wanted to ask you for a while now..."

He slowly turned to his sister.

"Why did you let her go on that mission when you knew it would be extremely dangerous?"

"That's because... I trust her," Gaara replied and walked off.

Kankuro glanced over at Temari and whispered with a smile, "Now who's spoiling her the most?"

* * *

**Hah... I really need to work on my action scenes _ _"**

**Anyways, time for my little ramble! :D**

**I actually find writing this fanfiction a bit hard without putting anything erotic, extremely dark, or making the characters too Ooc, which I do alot in my other fanfics. If I finish this story without anything erotic in it, I shall award myself with bubble tea /-()-/**

**Bye now! Please review and tell me what you think! :3**


	4. Chapter 4

"No! I don't want to leave!" Yoko wailed, clinging onto a wooden electricity post with her arms and legs while Temari tried to pry her off.

"We're going back to Sunagakure! You've healed enough to leave and we've finished with our business here, so let's go!" she snarled.

"But I don't want to leave! I haven't even thanked Neji-san properly yet!"

As soon as she said those words, Gaara and Kankuro passed by her, heading for Konohagakure's entrance. Yoko's eyes widened and she called out to them, "Gaara-san! Kankuro-san! Tell her we don't have to leave so soon!"

Kankuro looked back and waved to her with an apologetic expression while his little brother bluntly ignored her. Tears welled up in her eyes and she sniffed, "How could you... I trusted you guys..." However, her crying instantly stopped when her target was spotted. She smiled and looked back at Temari who was glaring down at her.

"Sorry, Temari-san... See you later!" Yoko said before reaching into the bag strapped onto her thigh and dropping a smoke bomb. A dark cloud of smoke rose almost immediately after the gadget struck the ground and Yoko quickly raced out of sight.

"Yoko...!"

* * *

"How are you doing, Neji? Lee?" Tenten asked.

"I'm fine. I'm glad that I was finally released from the hospital. This way, I can get back to training..." Neji replied.

"Ooh! So you're as excited as I am, aren't you, Neji? Let's get started right away!" Lee exclaimed, flames of motivation burning in his eyes. The three of them had just exited the Konoha Hospital and were heading to the training grounds.

"Give him a break, Lee! Anyways, how was the fight, you two? I heard that the Sand Siblings were sent to help you guys!" Tenten demanded.

"They weren't the only ones that came," Neji said, "There was this odd genin girl who carries a scroll around like you, Tenten, and summons weapons from it... I've only seen one though."

"But how's she odd?" Lee questioned.

"Well, after the whole incident happened, I always hear somebody calling my name from a distance..."

"Neji-san!" Yoko called out to him, running towards the three of them at top speed. When she tried to skid to a stop, her foot got caught on a stone and she went vaulting over it. The girl spun around in midair before landing on her face, her left hand holding a bouquet of flowers over her head so that they wouldn't be damaged.

"Uhm... are you okay?" Tenten asked, approaching the girl.

As soon as the question was asked, Yoko jumped up to her feet, her right arm in a sling around her neck. "That's great..." she sighed as she gazed down at the flowers, "They weren't ruined..."

She looked up at Tenten, who was a bit taller than her, and shook her head, "Nope I'm fine! I just tripped a bit! Hehe..."

"Um... Is there something you need?" Neji said and walked over to her.

"Neji-san!" Yoko exclaimed with a grin. She held out the bouquet, "These are for you! Thank you so much!"

"Flowers..?" Lee questioned.

"Yeah! They're bluebells which symbolize gratitude! You were so cool when we were fighting Spider-san! I mean, how could you think in that situation? While I was in state of panic, you were, like, a genius, Neji-san!"

He accepted the bundle and said, "...Thank you."

Her entire face flushed and Yoko stammered, "N-no! I should be thanking you! I mean, I'm so inexperienced and e-everything... If it wasn't for you, I w-would've been dead by now-"

Her words were cut off by a violent tug on her collar. A hand made out of sand was dragging her away. Yoko didn't even need to look back to see that it was Gaara. "Well, bye then, Neji-**kun**!" she said as she waved goodbye. The Sand Siblings and the troublesome girl left the village.

"Was it her who helped you on the mission? I can understand why you would say she's odd..." Tenten commented. "Quite the womanizer, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not!" Neji sighed. _Since when did she call me Neji-kun?_

* * *

"Ne, Kankuro-san! Let's go training!" Yoko said. It had been two months since the Sand Siblings had been sent out to help Konoha's team with retrieving Sasuke Uchiha and a week since they arrived back at Suna. The two of them were in Kankuro's room, where he was working on a puppet.

"Uhm... I think you should go patch things up with Gaara..." Kankuro suggested. "Also, your arm and ribs just healed, so I don't think we should start training so soon."

The girl's eyes widened and she whispered, "But... Gaara-san... is a bit scary."

"Huh?" He muttered. _Now she's scared of him?_

"He started to reject my cacti again."

_That's why?! _Kankuro sighed and shook his head. "Uh... Yoko... I heard that you called Neji with -kun instead of -san..."

"Yeah...?"

"Well, I guess it kind of makes us a bit annoyed considering the fact that we've known each other for years and you call us with -san..." he explained.

Yoko stared at him with a blank look, not really understanding it.

"You know, you call people with -san after their names when you don't know them very well..."

"Yeah..."

"And it seems like you know Neji Hyuga better than us, so..."

"Ooh! I see!" Yoko grinned, slapping her fist onto her palm. "So I should call you by something else now!"

"Well... sure," Kankuro said, "If you want... I'm not forcing you."

"Okay... What about Kankuro-nii?" She suggested.

"Sure... wait, what?"

"Kankuro-nii!" Yoko repeated and ran off, "Bye, Kankuro-nii!"

The boy just sat there, in the middle of his room with a wooden puppet in front of him and tools in his hand. The tools dropped to the floor and slowly rolled away while its owner gazed out the door with a look of surprise on his face. Then, Temari walked in with a frown.

"Hey, am I just hearing things or did Yoko just call me 'Temari-nee'?" she asked. "I'm fine with just Temari... Kankuro?"

The boy had fainted with shock frozen in his expression. _I would normally feel annoyed with any other kid, but this way, I might just turn into a lolicon!_

* * *

Yoko quietly climbed up the plateau where Gaara was meditating upon with agile movements, trying not to disturb him. They were out in the desert around a kilometer away from the village, but the place was very open, with only a few other elevations and rocks. There weren't many places for enemies to hide, so it was fairly safe.

"Yoko... what are you doing?" he questioned, opening his eyes.

"G-Gaara-san!" She squeaked. "I'm just trying to... get... up.. there!" She sighed in relief when she finally made it up. "Um... are you mad at me?"

"No," he replied softly.

"Then why did you start to reject my cacti again?"

"...There's nowhere to put them," he said. "Look down."

"Huh..." Yoko muttered and obeyed him to see the sand from below clear away to reveal filled holes of potted plants. "Oh... Oh... Oh!... Um... Sorry. I guess giving you one a day just pushed the limit..."

"It's alright..." he answered and returned to meditating.

The girl walked over to where he was sitting, at the far end of the plateau, and asked, "Can I sit next to you?"

She took his silence as a yes and sat down, hugging her knees to his chest. She looked over at him and couldn't help but start to stare at the kanji for "love" on his forehead, finding nothing else to do. The afternoon sun from above them somehow made the symbol look a bit brighter than usual. Feeling a bit uncomfortable under her gaze, Gaara looked over at her to see that she had quickly turned away. He closed his eyes again and as soon as he did so, he could feel her gaze on his temple again. When Gaara glanced at her, she turned away, and when he wasn't looking, Yoko stared at the mark. They played this "game" over and over until Gaara finally caught her off guard and their eyes met. When he glared at her, she giggled and waved her hands.

"Okay, I'll stop, I'll stop," she chuckled. "But now that I think about it, you didn't use to have that mark, right? How did you get it? Is it a tattoo? Hey, your father was the Kazekage, right? Do you want to be Kazekage someday?"

Again, Gaara didn't reply.

"If you become Kazekage some day, I'll support you!" Yoko exclaimed, punching her fists in the air.

"You're... not afraid of me?" he asked.

"Of course I'm not! I mean, you're scary sometimes, but everyone is scary at times, you know?" she blabbered on, her grin still frozen on her face. "I mean, like if I can't tolerate the bad sides of you, how can we be friends?"

_Friends? _Gaara thought to himself.

"Well, the thing is..." Yoko scratched the back of her head, her cheeks growing a bit red from embarrassment. She continued, "I've kind of been watching you ever since I came into the village and I thought you were pretty interesting. You're still interesting by the way! But... you always look so lonely and sad most of the time, and maybe even heart-broken, even now."

"That's kind of why I started giving you the cacti. You see, my mother and father never really came home and I was alone most of the time... I barely even realized that something was weird when they stopped coming. Anyways, cacti are really easy to take care of because they don't need a lot of water, so I bought one and started to treat it like my friend because I didn't have any siblings or pets," Yoko paused for breath.

_Her parents... are dead? _Gaara glanced down at her to see that the girl was still smiling.

She trailed on, "So like, at first, I thought that it wouldn't grow and there weren't a lot of changes to it, so I kind of gave up on it. But then, on the top, there was this little round thing that was like this big."

She curved her index finger and placed her thumb over it, making a little circle, and raised it towards the sky. Yoko said, "And it was a pale pink. So, I thought it was pretty weird that something so colourful would grow on that dull cactus, but after someone I knew told me it was a bud, I started to talk to it."

"You must think it's pretty stupid, for me to be talking to a plant, but I did. It helped me to move forward in my life, every single day in that abandoned house. And finally, one day, the flower bloomed!" She exclaimed and opened up her hands above her. "It was one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life!"

Suddenly, Gaara pushed himself up to his feet and raised a platform of sand to the edge of the plateau where he was standing. He stepped onto the sand.

"Eh? Gaara-san? Where're you going?" Yoko asked, her arms still stretched out in the air.

"Back to the village. We've been out here long enough."

"Oh," she muttered and got up, brushing the dirt off her clothes. She walked over to the side of the plateau and prepared to climb down but the feeling of Gaara's gaze on her stopped her in her tracks. He just stared at her, his eyes questioning what she was doing. Yoko stared back at him, not really getting it then approached him and asked, "Wait, you want me to come down with you?"

Gaara turned away and the sand platform slowly started to descend. The girl squealed in alarm, "Wait! Me too! Me too! I don't want to climb down!"

She jumped onto the platform with a soft thud, but she tripped over her own leg and fell. Yoko immediately got up and made the peace sign to show that she was okay. Soon, they arrived at the ground and the two of them got off and started to walk towards the village.

"Yoko..." Gaara said.

"Yeah, Gaara-san?" she replied.

"You talk too much."

"Eeh!? I don't talk _that_ much!" Yoko huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, starting to pout.

"Oi! Yoko! Gaara!" Kankuro called out as he ran towards them, Temari following close behind him.

"We just got a B-rank mission! Let's go!" Temari yelled. "We already told them that we would be going with you!"

Gaara nodded and turned around. "Let's go," he said. His siblings finally caught up with him and the three of them started to walk off when they realized that Yoko was not accompanying them. The girl stared at them with narrowed eyes.

"Hm.. I wish I got to go too..." she sighed softly.

"What are you doing, Yoko?" Kankuro laughed and looked back.

"We're not going to wait for you if you're going to stay frozen like that," Temari said, also turning to her.

"I... I can go too?" Yoko questioned.

"Well, yeah," Kankuro said.

"Yay!" The girl exclaimed and jogged over to them. "Wait for me!"

_I really wish that we can all stay like this forever, _Yoko thought to herself.

* * *

_**One year later...**_

* * *

"Sorry, Kyo-kun, I have to leave a bit early today. I promised Gaara-san and Temari-nee that I would help train the academy students," Yoko apologized. Her black hair was now extremely long, reaching her waist, and when she tied it up for her missions, she sometimes had trouble because it kept getting in her face. She hugged her boyfriend's arm tightly.

"Again?" he groaned, running his hand through his own black hair, "Geez, what's so special about Gaara anyway? You're always saying 'Gaara-san!', 'Gaara-san!' like he's your lover or something. Besides, he's nothing but a weapon. He's too dangerous and he shouldn't be allowed in the village-"

Suddenly, a sharp pain came from between his legs and he collapsed on to his knees. He glared at the girl who had just attacked him and growled, "Why, you... Yoko..."

"Sorry, but my black hair-fetish won't save you from the crime of insulting Gaara-san in my face. Also, we're over. Bye, now!" Yoko smiled and skipped off.

"Chet! Who wants to date a flat-chested hag like you anyways?" he yelled, but was awarded with cactus prickles stabbed into the side of his face.

Yoko approached him again and said, "You know what, I don't want to talk to you anymore, at all." Then, she stomped off.

"God, what's wrong with that girl? I thought she was the cute and innocent type..." her ex-boyfriend muttered.

* * *

**And the cliche "something bad is going to happen" line and time skip appear! yay! XD**

**Please review! :3 Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, I came on time and all..." Yoko said, "But why am I being left out!?"

"Just watch and learn," Temari sighed, "It's your punishment for neglecting your duties.

"Hm..." She narrowed her eyes at the assembled students of Sunagakure's new academy. The girl looked around to see that the training grounds inside the village had been fixed. The space was much wider and the newly painted walls were higher. Yoko hopefully glanced over at Gaara and Kankuro to see if they will let her join, but they bluntly ignored her. The Sand Siblings approached the academy students and started to introduce themselves.

Yoko huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, then loosened them again, starting to pick on her new fingerless gloves that had padding for her palms and steel plates on the backs. She walked over to the side of the stadium and felt it, wondering how strong it was. Only one way to find out, she thought, and pulled out the scroll that was strapped to her right thigh and rolled it out. Yoko quickly summoned her Dragon Head Cannon and prepared to fire when a large hand made out of sand plucked it out of her arms and took it back with it. The girl watched with her jaw dropped as the sand carried the weapon to Gaara and placed it next to him. He wasn't even looking her way.

She started to approach him but Gaara looked her way just in time and glared at her, making the kunoichi shuffle backwards and sulk in the far end of the training grounds. Yoko could hear giggles of the academy students start to rise through Temari's talking. Her cheeks started to blush a deep red in embarrassment, but when Gaara turned back to the crowd, they all grew silent. Whilst sulking, Yoko watched them with narrowed eyes.

"Alright then, we'll be getting into three groups. One will be with me, the other with Kankuro, and the last with Gaara. Everybody, move!" Temari commanded and the kids obeyed, but it didn't turn out right.

Almost half of the students gathered around Kankuro while the other half went with Temari. Not a single person stood with Gaara. The siblings and Yoko waited... And waited. For a while, nobody moved and when the black haired genin opened her mouth to say something, a frail looking girl stepped out of Temari's crowd and walked over to Gaara. As expected, whispers accumulated at an extremely fast rate among the academy students.

Clenching her fists, Yoko let in a deep breath before yelling, "Be quiet!"

Silence immediately fell upon them. The girl let out a sigh and put her hands on her hips, "You should all be ashamed of yourselves! Have you ever heard of ninja gossiping while learning a lesson from their sensei?"

"Well... That was sudden," Kankuro muttered.

Temari shook her head and said, "Okay, now that you're all quiet, I'll explain what you should do. Each of you pick one of these weapons," she gestured to the pile of swords, bows, arrows, spears, and others behind her, "and we will teach you how to use them! Is that clear?"

"Yes!" The group replied.

"Then let's get to it!"

As soon as she ordered it, the entire crowd of students became busy. While the others hustled and bustled trying to get their hands on a weapon, Gaara's student, Yoko, and the Sand Siblings stood back and watched the scene unfold.

Kankuro approached Yoko and elbowed her side, "What's the deal today? You're in an awfully bad mood."

Yoko huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, her nostrils flaring at bit. She said, "I broke up with my boyfriend."

"Again? Seriously, girl, settle on one guy for at least three months."

"Hey, this one was pretty long... One month," she retorted, turning to him. Her round black eyes stared up into his brown ones and the older boy glared down at her for a while.

He scratched the back of his head and said, "He said that you were flat-chested, didn't he?"

"I am not! I'm just growing! Meanie!" Yoko sniffed, pretending to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.

Kankuro chuckled, "I've got to go back to my group. Talk to you later!" He headed back towards the students who were now waiting for him.

Yoko turned to see that Gaara and the girl had already started training. Or that's what she thought. It seemed like the academy student had trouble; she was shaking. The young genin bounded over to them and smiled, "Yo! Wassup!"

She glanced over at the shy girl's hands, then the pile of weapons at least 10 meters away from them. Yoko tilted her head and asked, "Uhm... why haven't you picked a weapon yet? By the way, what's your name?"

The student didn't even dare to look up at Yoko when she replied in a shaky voice, "M-Matsuri."

"Okay... Nice to meet you, Matsuri-san! Thanks for choosing Gaara-san as your teacher for today!"

She reached out her hand towards Matsuri, about to pat her back, but her touch was quickly rejected. The brown haired girl immediately retreated and put her hands on the sides of her head, as if she was trying to hide herself from Yoko. Yoko and Gaara glanced at each other with the same confused look and the black haired genin sighed. She placed her hands on her hips.

"Well, I guess I'll leave you two alone... Right! Gaara-san! I thought it was time to give you a gift now, so I..." Yoko dug her hands in her pockets, then her bag, then the strapped objects on her thigh. Her jaw dropped open when she realized that the cactus was no longer in her possession. "It disappeared! The cactus disappeared!" she exclaimed.

At this time, her ex-boyfriend was busy trying to pluck the thorns out of the side of his face. The very cactus Yoko was talking about was badly dented and bruised from hitting Kyo's face.

"I don't really need it," Gaara muttered, crossing his arms over his chest, a faint look of disappointment in his eyes.

"Ah! Alright!" Yoko clapped her hands together and bowed deeply, "I'm really really sorry, Gaara-san! I'll make it up to you! I promise!" She then pumped her arms up in the air and yelled, "Ganbatte, Gaara-san!"

Before all the heads in the stadium turned towards her, Yoko sped off, grabbing her Dragon Head Cannon on the way. She had learned how to escape embarrassment.

Kankuro laughed, "She never changes, does she? Always smiling like that..."

* * *

"Te~ma~ri~nee~san~" Yoko sang as she skipped over to where she was training. They were out on the desert with no plateau of rise of rock in sight. The village rested only one kilometer behind them and Temari was facing the setting sun as she trained. It was evening and the sky had already turned scarlet with streaks of orange.

"Well you're full of energy," she said, folding up her weapon. Temari turned to the energetic girl and placed one hand on her hip. "What is it?"

"I have a question! No, wait, I mean a few!" she exclaimed. She straightened up and cleared her throat, brushing the hair out of her eyes. "Question number one! Why is everyone afraid of Gaara-san?"

"...Wait, did you just say what I think you said?"

"Question number two! What's a Jinchuriki?"

"Hold it!" Temari commanded.

"Question number three! Why do people say that there's a monster dwelling inside Gaara-san?"

Temari sighed and rubbed her temple with her fingers, suddenly very tired. She muttered, "I can't believe you've been hanging around us for years now and you still don't know..."

"And no more questions! So, Temari-nee-san? What are the answers?" Yoko chirped, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Look... why do you want to know?"

"Because everybody in the village is saying it and I at least want to know! I mean, it's not like I have anything against Gaara-san, but like I'm just, y'know... curious?" she started to fidget, trying to look anywhere except for Temari. The older girl's gaze was drilling holes into her forehead.

"You're way too naive," she snarled. _Really, I knew she was an idiot, but not this much of an idiot. But this explains everything... no wonder why she can easily go up to Gaara like that. She was oblivious to the danger from the very beginning._

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Ask someone else," Temari growled, filled with disappointment, "But not just anyone from the village. Smarten up, won't you?" _And I actually thought someone cared about Gaara for who he is._She opened up her fan and jumped on top of it, riding with the current of the wind towards the village.

Yoko placed her own hands on her hips and huffed, "Hey, that's mean! All I did was ask a few questions! Wait! Temari-neesan!"

However, the older girl had already disappeared from sight and the younger genin sighed, tilting her head to one side. _Why did she look so angry?_ Yoko wondered.

* * *

"Kan~ku~ro~nii~san~!" Yoko called out as she tackled him from behind, making him spit out his tea.

Kankuro coughed a bit as he felt around for a rag to wipe his mouth and the table he was working at. After he found some cloth and started to clean up, he turned to Yoko and sputtered, "Wh-What do you want?" _How did she get in here without me noticing?_

The two of them were in his room and Yoko made herself comfortable by sitting down on a cushion. She smiled and said, "I wanna ask you a few questions! Temari-nee-san got mad at me and wouldn't answer them, so I came to you!"

"Okay... Fire away, I guess," he muttered, a bit annoyed that he didn't get an apology for making him spill his drink.

"Alright! Question number one! Why is everyone afraid of Gaara-san? Question number two! What's a jinchuriki? And question number three!" Yoko paused for breath, "Why do people say there's a monster dwelling inside of Gaara-san?"

Again, Kankuro coughed on his tea and set it down so that no more accidents could happen . He glared at Yoko as soon as she stopped talking and grinded his fist onto the top of her head. The girl yelped in pain and rolled away as fast as she could, her hands covering her throbbing head.

"What's the big deal!?" she squealed.

"You IDIOT!" Kankuro growled, "No wonder why Temari was pissed off! I think you lose at least 10 IQ every day!"

"My IQ is fine and the same as last year, thank you very much!" she retorted, tears welling up in her eyes.

"That's nothing to be proud of!" he yelled back and sighed, massaging his temple with his fingers, "Oh, geez..."

"Why are you and Temari-nee-san doing this to me?" Yoko sniffed.

"Because you're an idiot," he grumbled in reply. "Go ask someone else. I don't want to talk to you anymore." Kankuro wore a deeply disappointed look on his face, just like his sister.

"Stop calling me an idiot!"

"Do you have any idea how hurt Gaara would be? Wait, no, why would I even care in the first place!?" he clenched his teeth.

"Just... argh! Go away!"

"Fine! I'll go ask someone else then! Meanie!" Yoko shouted and stomped out of the room, bumping into Gaara who was standing next to the door. She froze in place as she stared at him, having a feeling that something was wrong... very wrong. Guilt gnawed at her heart for some reason, but she didn't know why.

"What are you just standing there for?" Kankuro said as he stormed over. He also stiffened up at the sight of Gaara and he weakly greeted, "Oh... Gaara... You..."

"I just had to get something," Gaara interrupted in a soft voice, "Sorry for intruding."

With that, he turned and walked away from them, down the hallway of the dark house as sorrow, anxiety, and fear started to slowly take over him. He had thought that he was finally accepted... but he had only been making assumptions.

* * *

**Gah! Stupid Yoko! D8**

**Please Review and tell me what you think! please~ 8D**


	6. Chapter 6

"I... I don't like this," Yoko muttered as she balanced on top of her Dragon Head in the shade of the training stadium. The blazing sun's rays threatened to reach her as it moved higher up in the sky.

"What do you mean?" Kankuro asked, his hand moving wildly as he tried to fan himself.

"Why is that Matsuri girl clinging to Gaara-san like that!?" She yelled.

The older shinobi elbowed her side, knocking her off of her one meter long weapon and said, "They're _training_. Besides, why do you care? Don't you usually start black-haired-boy hunting around this time? It had already been a week since you broke up with your last guy."

"But..." Yoko pushed herself off the ground, brushing the soil off her skirt. "Gaara-san and I... we haven't had a proper conversation for an entire seven days..."

"You're just making it sound long," Kankuro pointed out, "You guys never have a proper conversation either. It's just you who talks most of the time."

"Kankuro-niisan... you're so harsh..." she sighed, tears welling up in her eyes.

Bluntly ignoring her, the ninja turned away from Matsuri and Gaara, who were sparring in the middle of the training area, and greeted his sister who just entered the grounds.

"Temari, what's up?"

"We have a new mission. A few rogue ninjas have invaded the Sand Country from the east, near the border of the Fire Country. From the intel we got, it seems that the rogues are working together as a team to raid the smaller towns. We'll be joining Baki-san and another jonin to defeat the outlaws," Temari explained. "Yoko, you have a different mission."

"What?" She rushed over to the older girl's side and exclaimed, "What is it? Temari-neesan? Tell me!"

"You'll be teamed up with Gaara in escorting a geisha to her okiya*," she said. Kankuro started to chuckle as soon as he heard those words.

Tears sprang up in her eyes again and she could feel all her positive energy being sucked out of her. _Oh no..._

* * *

"As I thought... it's awkward..." Yoko muttered to herself.

"Did you say something?" the geisha walked next to her asked. The mission had already commenced and the three of them were already far away from Suna.

Surprised, the kunoichi shook her head quickly and raised her hands, "No, no, no! By the way... what's your name again?"

"My name is Hanako... I was visiting my friend in the Sand Village when I heard that something happened back at home. I became frightened so I asked for you ninjas' help. I'm sorry for the inconvenience..." she replied softly.

"No, it's fine! That's what we shinobi are here for anyway! To help people! I'm Yoko, by the way," she grinned.

The geisha shyly glanced over at the quiet boy traveling with them and whispered, "Uhm... and he...?"

"He's Gaara-san, one of the Sand Siblings! He's really interesting if you talk with... him..." Yoko trailed off as she gazed at Gaara. He returned it with a sharp glare, making her quickly avert her eyes.

Hanako giggled, "You two are quite cute."

"E-e-e-e-eh? Wh-What do you mean?" she laughed and shook her head, her entire face flushed pink. "We're n-not like that!"

Yoko tilted her head and smiled, "You're really pretty, Hanako-san... you're skin is so pale! Do all geisha have pale tones? Also, where did you get that kimono?"

"No, not all geisha have pale skin. It''s because we have to cover our faces with white makeup anyways, so there would be no point in caring for it except for acne," the geisha paused to glance down at the patterned kimono she wore. "I bought this kimono from a friend of mine... You're very cute too, Yoko-san, like a doll. I envy your black hair and black eyes."

The genin chuckled softly, "Aw, thank you very much, Hanako-san."

When she turned to Gaara, all she saw was a clump of sand whipping out from his gourd and the cork in his right hand. The quiet whizzing of a thrown kunai abruptly cut off right behind her head. Yoko quickly tugged Hanako to her side behind the arm of sand which had blocked the weapon, and summoned her Dragon Head Cannon from her red scroll. She let the scroll drop to the ground and raised the point of her gun over the sand and fired towards the direction the kunai came from. Hanako screamed. Yoko's Fire Dragon Blast smashed into tall slabs of stone and dented a hemispherical crater into them. The attack was responded with an entire hoard of kunai raining down on them. Gaara swiftly darted over to Yoko, pulled her close to the ground, and created a shield of sand over their heads just in time to welcome the weapons.

_Thunk. Thunk. Thu thu thu thu thu thunk. Thunk. Thu thu thu thu thu..._ The enemy didn't even show a single second of mercy. The kunai continued to rain on the shield, their consistency making it seem like the attack would never end. Finally, after what felt like an hour, the uncomfortable sounds ceased and Gaara slowly opened up the cover of sand. Yoko cautiously straightened up as she looked around, checking if the enemy was still there.

"Water Dragon Technique!" Dozens of unfamiliar voices cried around them. Thick streams of water shot at Gaara, narrowly missing Hanako and Yoko as they crashed into his walls of sand, which he had raised instinctively.

_I can't let the water touch the layer of sand on my body or I won't be able to move!_ He thought, trying to quickly think of a plan of escape as he increased his use of sand of his shield which started to take the shape of a cocoon. When he raised his arms to perform a jutsu, he felt something catch onto his hand. Gaara looked down to see that a thin thread with an explosive tag attached had managed to slip into his shield before he had even raised let his cocoon disperse and jumped back to avoid the blast, but a shot of water slammed into his left side and tossed him into the air like a doll. He slid across the ground, causing dust clouds to kick up around him.

"Gaara-san-" Yoko's voice cried out, but was abruptly cut off as soon as a dust cloud rose up in front of Gaara's face, blocking her from view.

"Yoko! Yoko!" he yelled back, his eyelids slowly starting to close. _The sand... is so heavy... the water... I... I used too much chakra trying to keep my shield up when the sand was soaking in the water... so... tired... _He blacked out, unable to move any of his limbs.

* * *

"Are you awake yet?" Hanako's voice asked softly as Gaara felt a gentle prodding on his shoulder.

He blinked open his eyes and looked up at Hanako, expecting her gentle, sweet expression, but was greeted by a cruel smile. "You..." he muttered, "You're not a geisha, are you?"

"You've guessed correctly, Gaara of the Sand. In order to obtain your immense chakra, we, the Kuro Tora*, have set up this entire mission. If you want the flat-chested girl back, you'd just have to follow me. We have your sister and a jonin, too," she cackled.

Gaara pushed himself off the ground and looked around, realising that Yoko had indeed disappeared. _I see... so that's what happened... I understand everything now... _The sand around him shifted back into the gourd in his back and he straightened up, pressing the cork back to its original place. He glared at Hanako. who gazed at him with a laid back expression full of glee, and he said, "Fine, then. Take me to your leader, rogue."

* * *

_"You idiot!" Kankuro yelled, stabbing his finger at Yoko's forehead. "How can you not know something so important?"_

_"Then tell me! Tell me why everyone hates Gaara-san!" she whimpered._

_"Argh, whatever," he sighed, "I bet Gaara hates you now and will never talk to you again."_

_"Eh? What do you mean?!"_

_As if on cue, Gaara appeared out of nowhere and said, "Goodbye, Yoko... I won't ever speak to you again because I hate idiots like you."_

_"Eh?! Gaara-san!" she cried out, running towards his figure which was slowly starting to fade. "Gaara-san!"_

Yoko abruptly opened her eyes and sat up, panting heavily. She rapidly blinked her eyes and let out a deep breath, glad it was all a dream. She tried to move her hands to wipe her forehead, but she couldn't. Her arms were tightly tied above her head to a pillar which stood behind her. Yoko tilted her head and looked around, extremely confused.

"Yo...Yoko, are you awake?"

"Wh-Who are you? Where are you? Wait..." she frowned, recognizing that voice, "Temari-neesan? But... why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be on a mission with Kankuro-niisan?"

Temari replied, "I'm behind you... my hands have also been tied to this pillar. I can't use any ninjutsu and it feels like my chakra is being drained... and there was no such mission. I never made it back to Sunagakure after my last one..."

"Now that I think about it, I also feel my chakra being drained out... why...?" Yoko muttered.

"Are you finally awake, my little kittens?" a deep voice demanded.

Yoko looked up just in time for a bright light to shine down on her face. She let out a quiet squeal and quickly looked away. A rough hand grabbed her hair and forced her to look up again. She shut her eyes and winced, wishing for the glaring light to go away. _Even Gaara-san's glare is softer than this!_ she thought to herself. Finally, the light was shut off and Yoko's head was freed. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the blobs which blurred her vision, but failed. She felt even weaker now... and more confused.

"Who... who are you?" Yoko asked softly.

"We are the Kuro Tora, little one and we wish for immense power, which your little Jinchuriki of the One-Tail has. We'll drain the chakra out of him, just like what we're doing to you with those seals on your bonds."

"Curry Tora? The Curry Tigers?"

"No, the Kuro Tora!"

"But, I don't get it!" she said, "By Jinchuriki, you mean Gaara-san, right? But what is a Jinchuriki? Why do you want Gaara-san? What did he ever do to you? He's a normal genin, just like me! Just like any other in this world!"

"Are you sure about that?" the voice laughed, "Don't worry. You'll retract your words soon enough when I show you how much of a monster he is."

* * *

**Not so much cuteness here, is there? Sry bout that ;)**

**And sry about the late update... I've been rlly busy lately**

**I started watching Hetalia! 8D Is Axis Powers the first season? Then what about World Series?**

**Please review and tell me what you think or help me out! 3**


	7. Chapter 7

_She crawled over to her flimsy bed made of thin blankets and smelly pillows. She buried her head in them, finding no other comfort in that small, cramped room. The paint on the walls had been torn apart or didn't even exist. Holes also dotted the sides letting bugs and rats skitter in and out whenever they pleased. The girl rolled out of her bed and crept over to the small cactus plant that was perched on the sill of a hole which served as the window. Her hand reached out to it, then drew back, afraid of being hurt._

_Outside was the desert, dry and vast, offering no hope of escape and nowhere to go. How long had she been in that room, alone? How long has it been since she last saw the face of her parents, or even heard their voice? She walked over to the door, sat herself down, and waited. She had been told to wait. That was the last command she ever heard from her mother. She was to wait. Suddenly, the door swung open..._

Yoko gasped as she blinked out of her daydream and shook her head. _I must've nodded off or something..._ she thought to herself and looked around. Her hands were still tied to the pillar and everything was pitch black. _How long has it been since those... Curry Tigers? No... what were they called again? Whatever... the curry dudes... how long has it been since they left? How long has it been since I dozed off?_

She squirmed a bit, uncomfortable in her position and sighed. Her stomach let out a low growl and she muttered, "I'm hungry..."

"Being hungry isn't the problem here," Temari's voice snarled from behind her. It was obvious that the older kunoichi was getting irritated."You're amazing, daydreaming when Gaara's and our lives are in danger."

"Oh... thanks?" Yoko tilted her head to one side, wondering whether it was sarcasm or not. "I'm not too worried about Gaara getting hurt though... even less of him getting killed."

She clicked her tongue, "Whatever. I guess there is some truth to what you said."

"Uhm... Temari-neesan?"

"What?"

"Why are people scared of Gaara?"

Temari let out a long sigh, "Just... I can't tell you and I won't tell you. Gaara will let you know if he wants you to."

"Okay..." Yoko finally quieted down when a thin ray of light appeared in the darkness and attacked her right eye.

The girl let out a soft squeal and turned her head away. _Stupid lights! Why are they always shining in my eyes!?_

"Yoko? Temari? You here?" a familiar voice called out from the slit of light.

"Kankuro!" Temari breathed, "How...?"

The ray of light widened and a shadow covered it for a second, before letting it shine all it wanted on Yoko's face. After a few seconds, the young genin felt her bonds loosening and her arms being freed. She quickly straightened up and hugged her saviour.

"Kankuro-niisan!" she exclaimed.

"I could tell almost immediately that that girl, the impersonator, was a fake. She was way too nice to be you, Temari," Kankuro explained in a low voice, feeling his cheeks start to flare pink in embarrassment, "But before I could catch her, the impersonator released her transformation jutsu and ran off."

"I love you too, little brother," Temari said. The other two couldn't see the older girl's expression very well because of the dim light, but they could tell that she was a bit annoyed,but grateful.

"Anyways," she continued, "We have to find Baki-san and the jonin who was with him. I'll go find and release them while you two go look for Gaara."

"How come you're not going to join the fight?" Kankuro asked.

"When I was tied up, there was a seal on the rope that sucked out my chakra. I have to regain my chakra first. Yoko, are you fine with going straight into battle?"

Yoko blinked rapidly and released Kankuro before staring down at her hands. She just noticed that she really did feel weaker. However, she nodded and smiled, "I'm fine!"

"Alright then," Temari commanded, "Let's go!"

* * *

"Right there!" Hanako giggled and pointed towards a large iron door on the side of a mountain. "That's our hideout!"

_Their hideout is.. in a mountain?_ Gaara stared at it for a moment before starting to quicken his pace in the direction of the door.

"Wait up!" the rogue called out and bounded over to him before also increasing her speed. She arrived in front of the entrance first and knocked on the door. "Hello? It's me, Hanako! I brought the One-Tail boy!"

The door slowly creaked open and Hanako pulled Gaara in. As soon as they were inside the mountain, the gate closed shut behind them. Before the boy could even react, a single light shone down to reveal a large hooded man and a little boy with purple hair and yellow eyes in front of him. Gaara quickly darted to the side in alarm and sand spewed out from his gourd, ready to defend. A booming laugh echoed throughout the room and the man ripped off the cloth to reveal a macho chest, muscular arms, short legs, and a curly moustache. However, there was no sign of a hair on his head. The man continued to laugh as he flexed his arms and balled his large hands into fists.

"Hoho!" he rumbled, "You must be the One-Tail's jinchuriki! Nice to meet you, boy!"

_He's... weird..._Gaara thought to himself and asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm so glad you asked, boy! I am... B! O! B! BOB THE LEADER OF KURO TORA!" the man punched the air for each letter of his name.

"This is embarrassing..." The purple haired boy muttered beside him.

Clapping noises erupted from Gaara's right. Another light shone down on Hanako as she cheered, "Woo! Go Bob-sama!"

"Where are Temari and Yoko?" Gaara demanded, ignoring Bob's flamboyant greeting.

"Oh, non, non, non, non, non!" Bob sighed, hugging himself as he swayed back and forth, "Too much of a rush! Too much of a rush, I say! Just wait for a bit..."

"Where are they?" his voice turned into a snarl. He could feel his blood start to boil with anger and annoyance.

"Hey, don't interrupt Bob-sama!" Hanako said and skipped over to her leader's side.

"It's quite alright, Hanako," The muscular man patted the girl's head and continued, "As I was saying, boy, just wait and the little kitten will show up soon... Oh! Ohoho!" his eyes widened and he exclaimed, "She's here already!"

"What-"

All the lights in the room suddenly lit up to reveal two winding staircases leading up to the second floor near the back of the room. Chandeliers hung on the high ceiling and the floor was covered with glossy marble tiles. Suddenly, a slight shifting noise sounded from above Gaara and he looked up to see Yoko diving down with a short sword in hand. Gaara's sand quickly blocked the blade and lightly tossed the girl to the side. Yoko smoothly landed onto her feet and as soon as her feet touched the floor, she lunged at the jinchuriki once more.

"Yoko?" Gaara's sand grabbed onto the girl's katana and ripped it out of her hands. The kunoichi then threw a few shuriken, which were easily deflected. _Why.. Why is Yoko fighting me?_

"Jinchuriki boy, I called you here for a reason..." Bob said, twirling moustache around his finger, "Give us your chakra. Become our life supply of energy and we'll let the kittens go."

"No," Gaara replied in a low voice. His sand formed into a large hand and roughly grabbed Yoko. More sand started to pile up on top of her. "You can't fool me. If I had a choice, I would never die as a tool of some rogues. Also, this impersonator isn't Yoko... Yoko doesn't know how to use a sword.

"Is that so? Hoho!" Bob started to laugh once more, "I'm pretty sure that is the kitten you are talking about, though. Care you look again, boy?"

"Gaara-san..." Yoko's voice squeaked from the mound of sand. The jinchuriki turned just in time to see her tearstained face. She whimpered, "Gaara-san, it hurts... How could you? How could you do this to me?"

He opened his mouth to reply, and for a moment, his sand weakened along with his heart. Bob smirked at Gaara's reaction and thick black vines erupted beneath the boy and engulfed him before he could even move. Yoko stepped out of the powerless pile of sand that now lay at her feet and her features slowly changed to match the purple haired boy who was next to Kuro Tora's leader earlier.

The little boy leaned closer to Gaara as the vines wrapped around his entire body and he sneered, "Baka*."

An arm of sand swung out of the mass and reached for Bob, but before its claws could harm him more than a scratch, it crumbled to the floor, powerless.

"My absorption jutsu is working well," Bob said, "Soon he'll be too weak to keep the monster in him under control.

* * *

"I wonder where Gaara is..." Kankuro muttered to himself as he ran down a brightly lit corridor, "This place is like a maze!"

"Hmm..." Yoko, who was running alongside him, skidded to a stop and looked around. "By the way, Kankuro-niisan, how did you find this place?"

"Eh? I was chasing after the fake Temari when I found this mountain... I can't believe this kind of place is in a mountain..." he trailed off when he realized Yoko was no longer listening to him and a stray strand of hair on her head was waving suspiciously. "Hey! Listen to other people when they talk!"

"I can sense Gaara-san somewhere here," she said and pulled out her red scroll. Her stray hair was now twitching in an odd manner.

_Since when did she have an ahoge*?_ He thought to himself as Yoko summoned her Dragon Head Cannon. "Hey... What are you doing?"

"I'm going to blast through this wall. Gaara-san is somewhere on the other side," she replied and raised her weapon. _I'm lucky I made it so that my cannon automatically returns to the scroll after being left alone for two minutes._ She pressed her chakra into the gun and said, "Fire Dragon Blast!"

A ball of compressed chakra, wind, and fire penetrated the wall with a loud _boom_ and pieces flew right back at the attacker. Yoko shielded her face from the bits of wall with her cannon and stepped inside the other room. She lowered her weapon to see a large macho man in the center of the room accompanied by a purple haired boy and Hanako, and the same little boy standing next to a writhing mass of black vines. She tilted her head to one side in confusion when she saw the two identical boys. _...Huh?_

Kankuro entered the room behind her muttering something under his breath about the girl's recklessness and he looked around. He narrowed his eyes when he saw Bob and demanded, "Where is Gaara?" _Judging from his appearance, he's the leader here..._

The purple haired boy next to Bob disappeared and Yoko's head returned to its normal position. Her ahoge perked up when she realized what was going on. _I see! It was a clone!_

"If you're talking about the sand boy, he's over there," Hanako cackled as she pointed to the black mound. _How did that flat-chested girl get out so easily? And tattoo-man... why did Bob-sama let him find our hideout and free Miss Flat-Chest? _Her eyes widened a bit in realization and narrowed again. _Oh... I see..._

"OHOHOHO! You're here already, little kitten?" Bob chuckled.

Yoko bluntly ignored the muscular man and darted over to the mass. The little boy with yellow eyes backed away from her and returned to Bob's side. When she was about to tear the vines apart, the leader of Kuro Tora said, "You know, kitten, I wouldn't touch that if I were you."

"What do you mean?" Kankuro snarled, "What did you do to Gaara!?"

"Calm down. His chakra is only being sucked out by Bob-sama's jutsu, which are the vines. Anyone from the outside who touches Bob-sama's technique will be burned," the purple haired boy sighed.

Bob rumbled, "That's right, Rui, my boy. Soon the One-Tail boy's unlimited amount of chakra will be all mine! I didn't think using such a cliche trap would be so effective, though..."

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to blast it all away!" Yoko shrugged and raised her cannon.

"Oi! Don't do something so stupid!" Kankuro yelled.

Before he could do anything to stop her, a large disfigured arm burst out from the mass of vines and grabbed Yoko by the throat. The genin let out a faint shriek in alarm and dropped her weapon. The arm slowly raised her up off of the floor.

"YOKO!" Kankuro called out as a shiver ran down his spine. _That hand... Damn! Just when he finally got control of his bloodlust! The chakra absorption forced him into that state!_

"Well, that was fast..." Bob shrugged, "Maybe I drained his energy a _little_ too quickly..."

The torn vines slowly dropped onto the floor and unveiled the beast they were hiding. Half of Gaara's body was already taken over by the One-tail and sand was starting to layer his entire body. Part of his face was badly disfigured and drool dribbled out of his stretched mouth. Gaara's eyes, now cold and full of bloodlust, glared at Yoko, whose face started to pale.

She let out a tiny squeak, "Gaara...san..."

* * *

**I'm so sorry for the late update and for not keeping my promises! TT^TT it's just that... school life and work are killing me...**

**Please bear with me and I hope you like this chapter even though the pace is a bit fast... ^^"**

**Gomenasai, Gaara fans... he's a bit weak in this chapter... but he'll make a cool comeback soon enough! *fire lights up in eyes* +0+**

**Maybe I made Yoko a bit too stupid? =^=**

**Baka*: means "stupid"**

**Ahoge*: practically means "stupid hair". A bit stupid characters in anime/manga have ahoge*s. For example, Italy from Hetalia. He has a curly ahoge and is clearly stupid... and an airhead. Yoko's ahoge is just.. special. It has a built in Gaara sensor ;)**

**Hope to see you soon~!**

**Love, grachiel 3**


	8. Chapter 8

_Wait a second... What's going on? Why am I in this state? I feel so weak all of the sudden... is it because of those vines?_ Gaara blinked slowly as he stared at the helpless girl, unconsciously squeezing her neck even tighter.

"Gaara!" Kankuro yelled, "Calm down and let her go! Think! Think about what you're doing right now! Gaara!"

_I got it, you big loaf!_ He thought to himself and shut his eyes. He could feel the One-tail starting to take over his consciousness and its voice calling out to him. _Focus... Focus..._ Slowly, the hand which held Yoko by her throat loosened and shrunk back, returning to its normal state. The disfigured part of Gaara's face also sunk back and regained its normal smoothness. He wiped the spit off of his chin and glanced over at Yoko, who was on her knees, her entire body shaking.

_What... What was that? I... I feel sick..._She bent over and hurled, liquid splattering onto the floor beneath her. Her skin was still deadly pale and her thin arms seemed as if they would shake right off of her shoulders.

"Surprised? Scared?" Hanako giggled as she skipped over to Yoko. She grimaced a bit when she saw the puke. "That was his true form. If only he was under Bob-sama's jutsu a little longer... Can you see now? That boy... Gaara, you call him? He's a _monster_."

Yoko could almost see stars dancing in front of her eyes. She didn't care or even notice that Hanako's image completely changed. All her thoughts were focused on her own fears and the nightmare she just caught glimpse of.

Gaara let out a deep breath and grit his teeth. _I can't worry about Yoko now.. I'll have to sort out things with her later... She probably thinks I'm disgusting now.. just like the others..._ He raised his arms and his sand followed his actions like a puppet. He glared at Bob and when he did, he also noticed that his arms were slightly shaking. Silent laughter exploded inside of him. _Is this because my chakra was sucked out to the point where my consciousness was taken over by the One-Tail? No... I'm scared.. I'm scared of Yoko hating me. How foolish. Since when did I start caring about that girl?_

A soft rattle sounded behind Hanako and she quickly dodged Kankuro's puppet, Black Ant, which had lunged at her with its barrel-stomach wide open. Kankuro leaped in front of Yoko, all his fingers attached to chakra strings. He growled, "Why, you...!"

"Mmm! Hmm! Huhuhu!" Bob grunted, blowing out air with flared nostrils. He hugged himself again and shook his hips, "Oh! I can feel it! All that chakra rushing into me! What pleasure! What strength! A jinchuriki's chakra is not to be underestimated! Ohohoho!"

Hanako clapped her hands together and smiled, "How great, Bob-sama!"

"_Disgusting_."

Gaara and Kankuro glanced back at Yoko, a bit surprised. Her body was no longer shaking.

"_Disgusting."_

"See, he's a disgusting monster, right? I knew you'd say that once you saw him-" Hanako was cut off by the Sand kunoichi's snarl.

"_Disgusting! Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting!_" Yoko screamed and ran towards Bob, her cannon in hand.

Rui, the purple haired boy, stepped in front of his leader and tried to stop the girl from advancing any further, but was knocked aside. Before Yoko could even load her weapon, Bob grabbed her head with one hand and held her up. Her cried her muffled by his palm. However, as soon as he lifted her more than a foot off of the floor, the mouth of the Dragon Head Cannon pushed against his back and the "Yoko" he held transformed into a log.

"_You... piss me off,_" She growled as a glowing ball formed in her cannon, "Fire Dragon...

A flying kick to Yoko's face blew her back, causing her to slam into the floor. Hanako landed safely on the floor, her foot a bit sore from hitting the genin so hard. Yoko did a couple of backflips to regain her balance and she straightened up, her cannon lying beside her.

"W-What the..."Kankuro stammered, his mouth wide open in shock.

_That... Is that really Yoko? I've never seen her fight like this before..._ Gaara thought to himself, equally amazed.

A thin stream of blood flowed out of her nose and Yoko wiped the blood off with the back of her fist. She grabbed the edge of her skirt and tore off a long strip off the side, then leaned down and tied her right arm onto her weapon. Her right shoulder sagged a bit when she straightened up again, from the weight of the gun, but her face showed no hint of strain.

Hanako reached back and loosened the obijime* of her kimono, then the obi* She tore off her obiage* and her kimono slipped off of her shoulders to reveal a sleeveless black top and tight black pants. She kicked off her socks and shoes, then tied her hair up with a red ribbon. Hanako smirked as she bent her knees into a fighting stance. "You..." she said, "I have to admit, you are a bit scary sometimes. I thought you were just a helpless 'maiden in distress'."

"Shut up.." Yoko muttered, rage burning in her eyes. "You're so annoying!"

She ran towards Hanako as fast as she could then jumped up into the air, her right arm, which was now part-cannon, part-club, swinging down on her head. The rogue easily blocked it with her hands, but was pushed back a bit. Yoko struck her with her club over and over again, frustration boiling up inside of her when each hit was blocked. Hanako jumped into the air to gain some distance away from the enraged girl, but the genin quickly followed and succeeded in nailing her head on the floor. The Kuro Tora member rolled away as soon as her head bashed onto the floor and pushed herself up. Her nose was flattened from the impact and was bleeding heavily. Yoko smirked as she swung her arms from side to side, ready for some more. The two of them paused for a moment catch their breath, then lunged at each other again.

_Gah! Where did she learn such foul words?! _Kankuro cringed from the inside out every time the two girls clashed. _And since when was she so scary? What happened to the innocent but stupid image she has all the time!?_

"Hoho!" Bob folded his large arms across his chest, his muscles rippling. "As I thought, fights are indeed enjoyable, especially brawls between little kittens... Hoho!" He loosened his arms then flexed them, holding them up for everyone in the room to see. He turned towards Gaara and Kankuro and said, "Now then, let's start a magnificent fight ourselves, shall we?"

_He's so creepy and weird! No wonder why Yoko flipped out saying he's disgusting!_ Kankuro shuddered.

"Let me take care of them, Bob-sama," Rui said and started to walk towards the two Sand shinobi. His appearance slowly changed to match Temari's as he approached them. His hand flamed up with chakra which lengthened and thinned into a blade.

"So you were that impersonating pipsqueak," Kankuro huffed. "I couldn't tell because you covered your face with a mask earlier."

"Shut up," the fake Temari growled, "Or I'll kill-"

Before he could even finish, the chandelier above him fell down and shattered on the floor at his feet. The impersonator's eyes widened when he looked up to see the real Temari jump down from the hole in the ceiling that made the chandelier fall in the first place and swing her Giant Folding Fan down on him. Rui shifted back to his normal appearance and easily dodged the attack. Temari gracefully landed on two feet while the two jonin who were following her also made their appearances.

"Picking on my little brothers, midget?" Temari demanded, opening up her fan to full span. "I guess it doesn't really matter. You're going to be beaten to a pulp by me anyways."

"I knew it... you sound much meaner than the fake somehow..." Kankuro muttered.

Gaara sighed and clenched his fists, willing his arms to stop shaking. He closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again, focused on the enemy before them. He said, "Kankuro... Temari... Let's go."

"Non, non, non, non, non! Not good at all!" Bob shook his head as he pulled on his moustache. "Non, non, non! A fight like this is no fun at all! Troops!"

As soon as he called for them, a numerous amount of black-clad rogues streamed inside the room in all directions towards their leader. "Go, go, go!" He commanded, shooting imaginary bullets with his hands at the Sand shinobi. At his command, the army immediately changed direction and headed right for them.

"Rui! We're leaving!" Bob yelled and pranced out the hole in the wall Yoko made earlier.

"Yes, sir!" Rui replied and quickly followed.

"Not so fast!" Kankuro moved forward to go after them, but Gaara held him back with his arm.

"I'll go. You guys take care of things here," he said and dashed off.

Temari swung her fan in a wide circle around her, "Hmph, leaving the troublesome stuff to us..."

Baki stepped forward and clasped his hands together, ready to make some seals. "Temari, Kankuro... and you!" He glanced over at the other jonin, "Let's go!"

"Yes!" They replied in unison and dove straight into the horde of rogues.

* * *

Gaara sped down the hall, making sure not to lose sight of the two figures in front of him. When they turned a corner, he quickly followed... and skidded to a stop to avoid physically bumping into Bob's muscular chest. He jumped back for distance and his sand shifted around him.

"So you followed us, huh?" Rui sneered, "You won't be able to do much because Bob-sama sucked out most of your chakra-"

A hand of sand grabbed his face, interrupting him, then smashed his head against the wall. Sand slowly covered his entire body and when it completely immobilized him, Gaara muttered, "Sand Coffin," and closed his hand.

Blood spurted out of the coffin's cracks onto Bob's face, which remained expressionless as loud cracking noises sounded from inside the sand. When the jutsu was released, the shattered bones and destroyed flesh dropped onto the floor.

Bob glanced down at the pool of blood and started to laugh, "Hoho! You've still got some kick to you, don't you? You really are quite the monster, boy!"

The bloodstained sand slithered back to Gaara, who glared silently at the Kuro Tora's leader.

"Hm... You seem pretty mad, boy. You alright? Let me guess what you want to do now..." Bob's relaxed expression turned stony and fierce, "You want to kill me, right? I can tell with that bloodthirsty look in your eyes."

Gaara's sand drew back before lunging at the muscular man, but was stopped by some strange force. Bob raised his arms and bent his knees, his moustache twitching, "But I have to tell you, boy... your sand won't work on me. When I absorbed your chakra, I also gained some of your powers. Now... For my spotlight!"

He jumped into the air and did a triple axel spin before clasping his hands together and bringing them down on Gaara's head, "Bob's Hammer!"

The sand blocked the blow and tried to attack Bob once more, but were stopped the same way as before. The rogue leader then spun on the spot like a top and rammed into Gaara's chest. The genin used his sand to defend again and delivered a punch of his own. Gaara sprang back in alarm when his entire body vibrated from the impact of his own hit. His hand was now throbbing in pain.

"Hm, hm! Like my metal-like body, boy?" Bob flexed his muscles, "My body is rock hard! A flimsy punch like that would never be able to get through me! Now... Bob's Spear!" He spread his fingers and aimed at Gaara's eyes but was blocked once more.

"You're... really noisy," Gaara snarled and pushed his hand against Bob's face. The sand that layered on his body now shifted into spikes and pierced the leader's body.

The rogue jumped back, surprised, and clenched his fists, "How...? I'm sure I was supposed to be able to block that!"

"When I make contact with my opponents, my attacks become much more direct and there is less of a chance of the sand being held back," The Sand genin said, "Your end was decided when one, you captured my sister and Baki, two, when you kidnapped Yoko in my presence, and three, when you absorbed my chakra and forced me to fuse with the One-Tail. If I kill you quickly right now, it would be the same as showing mercy."

"I don't need any mercy from you, boy!" Bob rumbled, "Don't act like you're better than me-"

In a second, Gaara's foot planted itself on the rogue's face and sand covered Bob's arms and legs. "You're a disgraceful adult," he muttered.

"You... You!"

"Sand Coffin."

* * *

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Yoko shrieked.

Hanako grinded her bare foot on the genin's back as she forcefully pulled her arms back. She had tugged them so far that Yoko's upper body was almost completely off the floor. "You're scary, but not very strong," she sneered. "I expected better of you. Guess you're all bark and no bite! Let's see here..."

She held onto the other girl's wrists with one hand and tore the cloth that held the Dragon Head Cannon to Yoko's arm with the other. Hanako threw the weapon behind her, not even looking to see where it landed and pulled on the Sand genin's arms a bit harder.

"That hurts! You're going to break my back!" Yoko squealed.

"That's precisely what I'm aiming for!" the rogue snarled when Kankuro and Temari came up to her from behind. Hanako tried to evade the attack, but she let go of Yoko's arms too late and was shredded by Temari's Wind jutsu.

Yoko let herself fall face first onto the floor, then immediately regretted it when she hit her forehead and her nose. She rolled over onto her back and let out a deep breath as she stared up at the older genin. She smiled, "Thank you, Temari-neesan, Kankuro-niisan."

"Get up, now," Kankuro said, then grabbed one of her arms. Temari grabbed the other and the two of them pulled her onto her feet in unison.

Yoko stretched from side to side, but winced when a sharp pain stabbed the right side of her chest. She bent over, feeling all of the pain from her wounds catch up to her.

"Broke your ribs?" Temari asked.

"Yeah, a few of them..." she whimpered.

"Hmm..." Kankuro looked over at the pile of unconscious rogues. "Defeating them didn't take as long as I expected."

"Let's go home. I'm tired," his sister sighed.

Gaara walked into the room, his gourd bottled up and with no sign of injury on his body.

"Gaara!" his brother greeted, "Took you long enough! How was defeating the leader?"

The jinchuriki didn't reply to Kankuro's question and looked over at Yoko, who was still doubling over in pain. He slowly reached his hand out to her, "What's wrong-"

"Don't touch me," she snarled.

"Hey, Yoko...!" Kankuro yelled, "What do you mean-"

Temari glanced at her brother, trying to tell him not to venture any further.

Yoko straightened up again and pointed right at Gaara, "Don't touch me... you... I feel sick... Gaara-san..."

She fell forward and collapsed into Gaara's arms. Before he could say anything, she started to snore softly. The Sand Siblings stared at her with blank expressions, not believing how ridiculous the girl is. Gaara sighed and gently handed her to Kankuro, who swung her onto his back.

"Anyways, let's go back to the village," the red haired boy said.

"Sure..." his elder siblings muttered.

* * *

"Isn't this too much, even from someone who saw _that_ for the first time?" Kankuro grumbled, furiously shaving a cylinder of wood to relieve his stress.

Temari sighed and sat down on a cushion next to her brother. She looked around his room and said, "It has been a while. It has been two weeks since we last saw her."

"I mean, I was worried about her! And just when I was about to send her to the hospital, she said there was no need! I was going to forcefully drag her there, but she just left on her own!" he snarled, setting his knife down on the table.

"Hey, do you want to visit her? See if she's alright? I mean, I asked around but no one has seen her for two weeks. Something must've happened to her," Temari suggested.

"Yes, let's," Gaara agreed, walking into the room. "I have to talk to her about some things as well."

Kankuro glanced over at his little brother before getting up and stretching his arms. "Alright, then. Let's go."

* * *

"So this is where Yoko lives? In the very far corner of our village?" Kankuro muttered, looking around. There weren't many people around the apartment building they were at, and all the windows on the second floor were dark.

"Yeah. I've come here before to bring back something Yoko forgot during her training, but I never went inside," Temari replied and lightly knocked on the door.

"Quite the softie, aren't you, worrying about a klutz like her?" her brother teased.

Gaara glanced at his surroundings and couldn't help but feel relieved. _Most of Suna's population is near the centre of the village... not many people will bother to rob from her or anything like that here. The apartment looks quite normal, too, from the outside._

The sound of muffled footsteps approached the door not long after Temari had knocked.

_It seems like the privacy here is good, too... I can't hear anything from inside.._ he thought to himself.

The door slowly swung open and Temari and Kankuro's expressions of slight worry turned into shock. Even Gaara's eyes widened with surprise. A half naked man with dark blue pants and a towel draped around his neck held the door open as the genin stared. His eyes were multicoloured, with one of them amber and the other turquoise. His white hair, which was partly tied back, dripped drops of water onto his pale arms and chest. He was a bit skinny, but had a perfectly sculpted chest.

"Uhm... who...?" the man asked, tilting his head to one side as he started down at the trio.

_No, who are YOU!?_ the siblings thought.

* * *

**Decided to update with an extra long chapter to make up for my lateness ^=^**

**If you haven't already guessed, Yoko's spazz attack is referenced from Death the Kid (c) Soul Eater ^^**

**Yay! New OC! RAWR! you'll find out more about him in the next chapter~ See you soon~**

**Peace, grachiel**


	9. Chapter 9

The man stared at each of them carefully, then remembered who they were, "Oh, you kids are Karura-sama's... I didn't recognize you for a moment because you all grew up to look like that bastard... I forgot his name, too." He scratched the top of his head as he tried to remember then shrugged, "You guys are here to see Yoko, right?"

Temari and Kankuro nodded in response while Gaara silently glared at the man.

The man glared back down at Gaara before stepping out of the apartment and closing the door shut behind him. He sighed and pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, then placed it in his mouth. He glanced down at the genin and asked, "Would you mind?"

The three of them shook their heads and the man lit it up then took a long drag. He blew the smoke to the right, away from the siblings and said, "Let's talk for a bit, first. My name's Tamaki, and I'm pretty much Yoko's caretaker, personal med-nin, guardian... something along those lines. I had pretty close relations with Karura-sama and your uncle, Yashamaru-senpai."

The Sand Siblings just stared up at him without a word. Starting to feel the calculating and heavy aura that emitted from the older shinobi.

"Anyways, let me ask you some questions..." Tamaki continued. "I can pretty much guess what Yoko went through; she had the same look on her face she had a few years ago. But, that's not really my point. To you guys, what is she?"

"What do you mean, 'what is she'?" Temari demanded.

"I mean, do you guys really need her in your lives, or do you think that she needs you, so you need to stay by her? What's the purpose of coming all the way to her place like this? Frankly, why would you care about a girl like her? She's a klutz, an idiot, to add to that, she's naive, freaks out over everything, has a petite body, no chest..." he replied.

"Oi, oi..." Kankuro muttered, clenching his fists. _What's with this guy? He's all like "I'm her caretaker" and stuff but he's being pretty nosy and badmouthing her at the same time! And where is Yoko?_

"Not to mention that she's reckless, irresponsible, way too optimistic... I mean, her very existence spells 'trouble'. Even I'm having a hard time trying not to strangle her because she is so annoying..."

"She's important to us," Gaara snarled, his eyes cold and full of hate. The med-ninja's words got to him.

"How so?" Tamaki asked, fiddling with the cigarette with his teeth. He pulled out a pair of glasses with a rectangular frame and wiped the lenses with his towel. "Is she your friend?"

"Friend?" he echoed.

"That's right... friend," he repeated, "You see, I'm pretty protective of Yoko, if I do say so myself. I am not letting her hang around a monster and his two demon siblings."

"Then why? Why would you say that now?" Gaara said. "You have had plenty of other chances... you could've even stopped her from seeing us in the beginning, so why now?"

"If you are who you say you are, a guardian of Yoko..." Temari added, "Then shouldn't you have acted a bit sooner?"

Tamaki rolled his eyes up to the sky then took in another long drag. He pushed his glasses onto the bridge of his nose and took the cigarette out of his mouth. He fiddled with it for a bit before he shrugged and said, "I've lost... for now. I'll help you kids make up. Follow me."

He turned and pulled the door open before quietly entering the apartment. The Sand Siblings quickly followed him and shut the door behind them. They stopped when the stood at the door of a wide, extremely neat room with large sparkling windows and many pictures hanging on the walls. Half of one wall was covered with pictures of Neji Hyuga, which signified that the room was indeed Yoko's. There was a small lump in the middle of a large bed in the corner of the room. Pillows littered the floor around the mattress. Tamaki shuffled over to the closet, which was right next to the door and pushed the sliding door open with his feet. He then pointed at the Sand Siblings and nodded towards the closet.

"Wait, how will going in there help us make up with Yoko-" Kankuro was cut off by Tamaki's towel which landed right on his face.

The med-ninja dragged the three of them into the walk-in closet and left a tiny crack open between the door and the wall. The lump on the bed stirred and Yoko's head popped out from under her blanket. Her face was flushed a bright pink and her hair was a mess.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned, "Tama-chan? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. I just came back from checking out the Suna Hospital. Seems like three new patients just came in," Tamaki replied and slowly walked over to her. He grinded his cigarette on an ashtray that lay on the table next to the mattress.

_That small lump was her? I thought it was a pillow! How tiny is her body? _Kankuro whispered softly. _By the way, it's a little cramped in here..._

_Shh! _Temari shushed him.

"Three new patients?" Yoko echoed, then crawled back underneath the blanket.

"Yeah.. I took a quick glance at them and they seem pretty young, around your age... One of them, the one with red hair, was severly wounded," he continued, "I heard that his opponent beat him up so badly that he had to immediately go into surgery."

She froze immediately at those words.

Tamaki picked up the pillows on the floor and neatly placed them on the bed, "Poor kid...Apparently, he was so shocked from being rejected by a girl close to him that he couldn't even fight properly."

Gaara's cheeks flushed a slight red but he continued to listen in on the conversation.

"What was his name again? Oh yeah, Gaara, the jinchuriki. He was brought in with his brother and sister after a mission. I didn't expect a monster like him to be hurt so badly... He killed quite a few Sand ninja... villagers, even," he said, "Suddenly, I don't feel so bad for him anymore.. If I were his opponent, I would've made sure he was dead-"

Yoko flung a pillow at Tamaki's face and yelled, "Don't badmouth Gaara-san!"

She hopped out of bed, clad with a t-shirt that was so big on her that it reached her knees, and loose pants. She hurried to the door and put on a pair of flats.

"Hey, where are you going? Your fever hasn't gone down yet and I thought you were scared of him! That's why you didn't even try going outside for two weeks, right?" Tamaki called out after her.

"I... I'm going to go see Gaara-san!" Yoko replied, opening the door. "Gaara-san is important to me! Temari-neesan and Kankuro-niisan are important, too! Gaara-san is Gaara-san! Even if I'm scared... a bit... he.. he's still my friend! If you call him a monster again, I'll hate you forever, Tama-chan!" And with that, she rushed out the door.

Her caretaker set the pillow back on the bed then turned around just in time to see the Sand Siblings spilling out of the closet. He walked over and grabbed a white shirt then pulled it on. He smiled down at the genin and said, "And there you have it. Let's wait around for her to come back, shall we?"

* * *

"Tama-chan, you BAKA!" Yoko yelled as she ran back into the apartment. She slammed the door behind her and kicked off her shoes. Her hair was even more of a mess and her clothes were ruffled up. "They weren't at the hospital! When I asked about Gaara-san... Gaara-san... san..."

She froze as soon as she saw Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari sitting around a table in the middle of her bedroom floor and drinking tea. She collapsed onto her knees and muttered, "Gaara-san..." as she slowly began to realize what was going on.

Tamaki, who was also sitting down at the table smirked, "Welcome back, Yoko."

Gaara looked up at her and when their eyes met, Yoko's face started to turn an even brighter red than before in embarrassment and she started to tear up, "Tama-chan, you b-baka... Waah!" She buried her face in her hands and started to cry.

"Oi... you made her cry," Kankuro muttered, glancing at Tamaki.

The med-nin shrugged and leisurely sipped his tea, "She'll stop crying sooner or later. She's so easy to tease."

"Hey, I forgot to ask..." Temari said, "The relationship between you two is only guardian and child, right?"

"Yeah," Tamaki nodded, "Besides, there's no way that we would get any farther than that. I'm gay."

Kankuro coughed on his tea while Gaara just stared at the older man with wide eyes. Temari blinked rapidly in astonishment.

"If you want proof, go check out my stash of pictures in the closet," he said.

"Actually, no thanks. I'm kinda too scared to see what's in there... I'd rather spare my eyes," Kankuro chuckled nervously as he slowly shuffled away from the med-nin.

Tamaki shrugged and said, "Do whatever you want. Anyways... Let me tell you a bit about Yoko when she was little." He smiled, "She actually isn't a child from this village. When we brought her in, the first thing she did was-"

Suddenly, Yoko jumped to her feet, her face as red as a tomato and pointed at the door. She glared down at the others and yelled, "G-Get out! Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out! Ouuuut!"

"Oh dear, our little princess is embarrassed," her guardian sighed and before he could say anything else, all four of them were pulled out of the apartment and the door slammed shut in their faces. Tamaki was still holding his cup of tea. "Wow... quite the angry chick we've got here." He glanced down at the genin, "Anyways, how was my 'calculating aura' from earlier? It's one of the few tricks I learned during my ANBU years!"

"I seriously thought you were her dad or something because of that!" Kankuro exclaimed.

Tamaki smacked his head in response, "I'm not that old! I don't look that old either!"

"Well, then, I think we should get going," Temari said and brushed the dust off her skirt. "We came here only to see if Yoko was alright, after all."

Tamaki shrugged and waved them off, "Bye bye!"

The Sand Siblings trudged down the stairs and when they were about to leave, the med-nin yelled, "Hey! Purple face! Raccoon boy! Don't fall in love with Yoko, you hear!?"

Kankuro's entire face grew a bright red and he shouted back, "Who would!?"

"Temari-neesan! Kankuro-niisan! Gaara-san!" Yoko called out. She stuck half of her body out the window of her apartment, holding something in her hand. She threw it at Gaara, "Thank you for visiting me! Gaara-san, ganbatte!"

Feeling a bit suspicious about the object she threw, Gaara safely caught it with his sand and held it up to see that it was another potted cactus. Somehow, none of the dirt had spilled out during its short flight. He couldn't help but let a small smile curl up on his lips. _Thank you, Yoko._.. _But it would've helped if you just handed it to me. I'm glad I didn't catch it with my hands. _He and his siblings waved good-bye and walked off.

Yoko looked over at Tamaki and smiled, "Aw, Tama-chan, you're tearing up!"

"Tch," he replied, "Stop hallucinating. Men don't cry. How about you? Are you alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"You... You loved Yashamaru-senpai, didn't you?"

The two of them fell silent as they both stared up at the sky in silence. After a while, Yoko spoke, "I know... That Gaara-san killed Ya-chan at that time a few years ago... I actually had a feeling that he did for a while. Seeing him transform just confirmed my suspicions."

"You don't want to kill him at all or get revenge?" Tamaki asked.

"I really wanted to. When I didn't know that Gaara-san was the murderer, I cursed him every day."

"Yeah, and you even scared me while you were at it," he muttered under his breath.

"But... I don't feel like hurting Gaara-san anymore. I haven't for a while. I... I want to protect him, just like Ya-chan did," Yoko said.

"Quite the romantic, aren't you?"

"E-e-EH?!" Yoko shooked her head, a bit flustered, "No, no, no! My heart belongs to Neji-kun now!"

"Hmm... I have to admit, you've got some good eyes there. Just from his pictures, I can tell your 'Neji-kun' is pretty fine," Tamaki nodded. He glared down at the girl, "Also... Aren't you supposed to be sick?"

"Uh... Yeah... I still a-am..." Yoko fell back and landed with a thud on the apartment floor.

The med-nin shook his head slowly with a sigh, "Idiot."

* * *

**This chapter is a bit of fluff... a break from all that drama... and the drama that's coming ;)**

**I have a question for you guys! Depending on your answer, this story's ending will change X3**

**Question: Do you guys want a lot of drama ( a little dark but sweet) for Cacti or a little drama (a little light and cute)?**

**I'd be so happy if you'd answer! I'm just having trouble making a decision~ *flails***

**A short ramble about fanfic... read if you want ;)**

**Me: So, what do you think about the fic so far, L?**

**L (my friend and fellow fanfic writer): ... Yoko's really stupid.**

**Me: Hehe**


	10. Chapter 10

"Morning, Kankuro-niisan, Temari-neesan, and Gaara-san!" Yoko waved as she walked into the training stadium. Her greeting was ignored, however, by all of them. Temari and Gaara were busy sparring each other while Kankuro pretended not to see her.

_That guy yesterday was weird... Telling me and Gaara not to fall in love with Yoko like that... And she was right there! _Kankuro was practically screaming inside. _Wait, why did he ask such a thing in the first place!? I just answered like that because of instinct, but, but... No! I don't like her in that way! Why should I like her in that way?! Wait, why am I even worried about something like this-_

He froze, startled when something poked his arm. Kankuro slowly turned towards Yoko who glared up at him with a pout. He couldn't help but let out a silent scream. _She's here!_

"Kankuro-niisan, what are you doing?" Yoko asked, tilting her head to one side. She poked him again with her finger.

_How should I respond!? Why am I so nervous around her all the sudden?! Wait, what am I doing?!_

The girl gave up on starting a conversation about him and looked over at Temari and Gaara who were still sparring. She demanded, "Why are they training like this so early in the morning? Did something happen?"

"Uh... well..." Kankuro paused and cleared his throat. _That's right, Kankuro! She's just a kid! Nothing to freak out over!_ "The chunin exam is coming up, so they want to get ready for it."

"A chunin exam!?" Yoko cried out, her eyes practically sparkling. She turned towards Kankuro again and grabbed his arm, pumping it up and down. "I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go!"

"O-O-Oi!" the boy exclaimed, his cheeks becoming a bit pink. _Let go!_

"But you don't have a proper team," Gaara said as he walked up to them. He and his sister had stopped training after being disrupted by Yoko's voice.

Temari also approached them and sighed, "You again, Yoko? What Gaara said is right though... Our village didn't have an academy for you to graduate from and somehow, you didn't get placed in a three-man squad."

"B-But... I want to join!" The genin started to flail her arms, but was knocked down by a book that smacked the back of her head.

The man behind her slid the book into his coat pocket as he blew smoke out of his mouth. He played with the lit cigarette in his fingers and muttered, "You're so noisy."

_It's him! The gay med-nin! _Kankuro started to freak out again on the inside, but he made sure to keep his face straight.

"Tama-chan! You didn't need to hit me like that! Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka!" Yoko yelled, jumping onto her feet.

Tamaki bluntly ignored her complaints and said, "It is practically impossible for her to enter the Chunin exam by herself and come out alive, or even make it through the first round, but... Konoha and Suna have this treaty, right? Isn't there a genin in the Hidden Leaf who needs a partner?"

"Now that I think about it..." Temari nodded, "There is someone in that village who could possibly help us out. Her teammates are both not present..."

"Sakura Haruno..." Gaara added. "She might be willing to help us."

"Alright, then! You kids go to the Hidden Leaf and..." The med-nin smiled and before he could continue, somebody called out for him.

"Tamaki-san? Is that you?"

The five of them all turned to see Baki slowly approach them. Tamaki's smile stayed frozen on his face as he shooed the genin away, "Have a safe trip!"

"Let's go, Kankuro-nii! Temari-nee! Gaara-san!" Yoko giggled as she led them out of the training grounds.

_Wait, did she just take out the "san" when she said my name? She still calls Gaara by "san" though... _Kankuro couldn't help but feel a bit happy about that fact until he glanced over at Gaara, who glared back with a cold deadly stare. _Gaara is still scary as heck..._

"So... Where are we going?" Temari asked.

"To Konoha so I can meet this Sakura Haruno person!" the girl replied with a grin.

Gaara and his sister exchanged looks before shaking their heads. The younger sibling said, "Temari and I will continue training somewhere else. I want to be ready for the Chunin exam."

"Why don't you take her, Kankuro?" Temari suggested.

Her little brother stammered, "M-me!? Why!?"

_What's wrong with him?_ She shrugged and replied, "Yoko obviously doesn't know who Sakura is, so help find her and get permission from the Hokage before informing our council about it."

"I-"

"Okay!" Yoko answered for him and grabbed his arm, starting to drag him away. "See you later, Temari-nee, Gaara-san!"

Kankuro's face grew pale as his siblings' figures became smaller. _W-Why me?_

* * *

"Long time no see, Baki. Looking as gloomy as ever," Tamaki greeted the jonin.

"And you're still putting up a fake front," He replied, not very amused by the med-ninja's humor.

Tamaki shrugged and sucked in a long drag from his cigarette before blowing it out in puffs.

"It has been three years since you left the village," Baki continued, slowly backing away from the smoke.

Noticing his reaction, the med-nin smacked himself on the forehead, "That's right. You don't like the smoke. Sorry." He turned away from the jonin and said, "I was going to come back last year, but didn't have the chance to. Sorry I couldn't visit you earlier."

"You mean you were planning on returning after the Kazekage's death, right?" Baki demanded, giving him a calculating glare.

Tamaki didn't reply and started to play with the cigarette with his teeth.

"You... You still bear a grudge towards the former Kazekage? About Karura-sama and Yashamaru-san? Were you relieved when you found out that the Kazekage was dead? Are you now aiming for his children?"

The med-nin dropped the stub at his feet and crushed it with his foot, smearing the ash on the ground. He placed his hands in his pockets and replied, "I never said anything about that. Nothing about Karura-sama, Yashamaru-senpai... and those kids. Maybe you're right... about me being relieved about that bastard's death. I have to admit, I really hated him... no, I still do."

Baki clenched his hands, "Don't even think about hurting the Kazekage's children. You should know already that even though you were formerly a well respected ANBU member-"

"Did you just say that they are the children of a Kazekage?" Tamaki chuckled, "Don't joke around. I heard about the foolish attack our... no, your fellow ninja tried to make on Konoha. That bastard was an idiot for trusting Orochimaru, and he died an idiot. He was _not _ a Kazekage. He was a brazen fool who caused the death of his wife and his brother-in-law. He doesn't deserve such a title like Kazekage."

Baki sighed and folded his arms across his chest, "Your hatred really runs deep."

"Why wouldn't it?" The med-nin snarled, no longer smiling. "Not only did he cause trauma for his family, but for Yoko, too. Being killed by a former Akatsuki member like that is fitting for him."

"So, your love for Karura-sama and Yashamaru-san in the past has nothing to do with this?"

Tamaki glared at Baki and pushed his glasses a bit farther up the bridge of his nose. He growled, "You should stop digging your nose in my business, Baki. If you dare continue with your arrogance, I will kill you."

The jonin froze on the spot as the med-ninja's cold eyes gazed at him, seeming to stare right into his soul. His orange and turquoise eyes seemed to gleam with fury and bloodlust. A smile crept across Tamaki's face and he laughed, reaching out and patting Baki's shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry... Did I scare you a bit?" He rubbed Baki's head next. "But, hey, show some respect for me, will ya? I _am_ a year older than you."

"That's right..." Baki muttered, managing a small smile. "You were quite intimidating even before you left the village." He could feel cold sweat sliding down the back of his neck.

"Ah, well, gotta go home now," Tamaki nodded. "I have to read this BL novel I just bought." He flipped out the book he hit Yoko with earlier and made his way past Baki as he left. "Later, Baki!"

"Later..." The jonin replied.

Temari and Gaara slowly slid away from the entrance to the training grounds as the med-ninja walked out. The two genin stared at each other with wide eyes, both of them surprised by what they saw and heard.

_Who... Who is that man? Even Baki-san was scared stiff of him! Was everything we just heard true? _Temari thought to herself as she turned to gaze at Tamaki's departing figure.

* * *

"We're finally here!" Yoko squealed, jumping up and down with excitement.

Kankuro let his shoulders drop and sighed. _That girl can sure talk... She was talking the entire way here... and we were going at top speed too! For practically no reason! _When he glanced over at her, he noticed something gleaming in her hand and asked, "Uh... What are you holding?"

"Oh, this?" she held it up and said, "It's a camera! Tama-chan gave it to me just before we left!"

_Oh... I see... to take pictures of Neji... _He smacked himself on the forehead. _That's right... That med-nin is gay... he might also be interested in Hyuga... But... does Yoko really like him that way? I'm just going to make sure... _Kankuro turned to her and stammered, "I, uh, um... About Neji Hyuga... do you... have..."

"Hm? What are you doing here? You're... Kankuro-kun?" A pink haired girl slowly approached them.

"Sakura!" He greeted, "We were just looking for you! Yoko!"

He spun around to see Yoko muttering to herself, "Where's Neji-kun? I want to see Neji-kun?" as she waved the camera in the air.

"Uhm... who's she? What do you need me for?" Sakura Haruno questioned, one eyebrow raised.

"You see... the chunin exam is coming up and that brat over here doesn't even have a proper three man team, so we were wondering if-"

"Hi! Are you Sakura Haruno-san?" Yoko interrupted him as she bounded over. She had finally given up on looking for Neji for the moment and returned to her original task.

Kankuro smacked her head and growled, "If you had been listening to me since earlier, you would've known!"

"Ow! That hurt!" Yoko pouted and looked over at the pink haired genin who was watching.

"I'm Sakura Haruno! Nice you meet you!" She smiled. _Is she... an idiot?_

"Nice to meet you too... Haruno-san..." the other girl trailed off.

Kankuro could practically feel annoyance bubbling up inside of him. He continued, "As I was saying, Yoko here needs a new partner, but all the other genin at her level have their own teams already."

"I see... Well, I don't know..." Sakura shrugged. "I'm alright with it, but we'll have to see if it's okay with the Hokage first."

"Alright," Kankuro nodded, "We were planning on confronting Lady Tsunade about it before getting permission from our own Council."

"Let's go see Tsunade-sama then-" This time, it was Sakura who was interrupted by the Sand kunoichi.

Yoko dashed forward at top speed, yelling, "Neji-kun spotted!"

_Why is it always... always Neji!?_ Kankuro snarled, "Oi! Come back here!"

Ignoring him, the genin pounced on her victim, "Neji-kun! It has been a while since I last saw you!"

Neji, who was on his way back to the Hyuga mansion from training alone didn't even try to evade the attack. He sighed as the girl hugged him, "Nice to see you again... Yoko."

"That's right!" Yoko cried out as she abruptly let go of him. She flashed out her camera and started to take pictures at an incredible speed, going from every angle. "Pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures..."

Kankuro sped over to them as fast as he could and snatched the camera out of her hands, "That's enough!"

"Eh!? But...!"

"We have t-to go see Tsunade now! We can't waste time like this!"

"Hmf!" Yoko huffed and folded her arms across her chest. She turned her back to him, her head held high.

"Why... you...!" he growled.

_Somehow, my feminine instincts tell me that... _Sakura giggled softly as she watched them. _It's one-sided!_

* * *

"So, you want a joint team for the chunin exam?" Tsunade asked as she eyed the three genin in front of her carefully.

"Yes!" Yoko replied with a chirpy voice, "I really want to take the chunin exam with Haruno-san!"

_You don't even know how I/she fight(s) or whether our/your teamwork will work out though... _Kankuro and Sakura thought as they glared at the girl.

"I'm fine with it. In the end, it will be an individual test anyway. The chunin exam will be hosted in this village... you know that, right?" The Hokage said.

"Yes!" The three of them answered in unison.

"Alright, then, off you go."

"Thank you very much!" the genin bowed and left the room. As they walked out of the building, Sakura quickly glanced at Yoko, wondering how she fought and with what style.

Noticing the pink haired girl's calculating gaze, Kankuro spoke up, "Do you want to see what Yoko can do before we go back and get permission from our Council?"

"Eh? Uhm..."

"I want to see Haruno-san's fighting style, too!" Yoko smiled, balling her hands into fists and pumping her arms up and down.

_She's.. pretty cute._ Sakura grinned back and nodded, "Okay, then. Let's try sparring for a bit at the training grounds over there," she pointed to a forest near the far end in the village, "This way, we'll learn each other's capabilities faster."

"Okay, then! Let's go!" the other girl shouted and bounded off in that direction. When Kankuro tried to chase after her, Sakura grabbed him by the shoulder and smiled strangely.

"What... what is it?" the boy demanded, not having a very good feeling about her smile.

"Ne, Kankuro-kun... when are you going to confess?"

"Confess?" Kankuro raised one eyebrow, not really understanding what she meant until a few seconds later. His entire face blushed a bright red, "Wh-Wh-What!? To whom!? Confess!?"

"Yoko-chan... who else would it be?" Sakura chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll help you guys out..."

_Damn... was I that obvious?_ The Sand ninja smiled weakly. _Somebody... HELP ME!_

* * *

"Hey, you!" Temari called out. She glared at the med-ninja who slowed to a stop. Gaara stood by her side, gazing at the same person with cold eyes. The two of them were behind Tamaki, who was about to climb the stairs to the second floor of Yoko's apartment.

Tamaki looked up at the sky and chuckled softly, "You heard everything from before, didn't you? You kids... did you think I wouldn't have noticed? You two are just like Baki and that bastard... not showing a shred of respect for me."

Even though the sun was shining brightly and the village was in the middle of a desert, Gaara and Temari could feel a cold wind passing through them, followed by a chilling aura that came from the older ninja.

"Hey, sorry, but I don't have much time to talk to you kids," Tamaki nodded, still not turning to them. "Like you heard earlier, I have to read my BL novel..."

"Yoko..." Gaara demanded, "What relationship did my uncle and Yoko have? What did you mean when-"

"You... don't have any right to know," Tamaki snarled, and slowly turned to face them. His eyes were extremely dark and full of malice, and bloodlust radiated from his expression for a moment before his smile returned. However, his eyes were still like daggers. "Hey, stop it, now, okay? I'm just her guardian! I have no clue about her love life! If you really really wanted to know, why don't you ask her yourself?"

He face away from them and continued on with his ascent to the second floor of the apartment building. Tamaki flipped out his keys, fumbling with them for a bit, then said, "Now stop bothering this old man and let him have time to enjoy some BL. I want to know how creative this author can get." He waved his novel in the air again before walking into the apartment and closing the door shut behind him.

Gaara clenched his fists, wanting desperately to break into the building and viciously attack the med-nin. He glanced over at Temari, who had the same frustration and annoyance written all over her face. He let out a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. _That man... I can't trust him at all... He's smiling and joking around one second, then has a murderous intent the next. I have no idea what his abilities are, but I know that he's definitely dangerous!_

* * *

"Argh... RAH!" Sakura yelled as she slammed her fist into Yoko's weapon.

The other genin struggled to keep her cannon up and continue to block the pink haired girl's attacks. Wide craters surrounded them, and the clearing was littered with burnt trees.

Yoko kicked against Sakura's chest, using her like a springboard, then jumped back a couple meters away. Raising her beaten up Dragon Head cannon, she shouted, "Fire Dragon Blast!"

Quickly recovering from the blow, the Konoha kunoichi dropped to the ground just in time for the fireball to whizz over her head. She lightly sprung back to her feet and punched at the ground next to Yoko, making her crash into Kankuro, a bystander, from the impact.

She giggled, "Oh, I'm sooo sorry."

"Sakura, you idiot!" Kankuro exclaimed, his face a bright pink. The younger girl lay on top of him. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" she shrugged and shook her head. _He's blushing..._

"Yoko, are you alright?" The puppet style shinobi lightly pushed her up.

Yoko just blinked a few times before helping him up and smiled, "I'm fine!"

_She's not affected by it... _Kankuro thought to himself, feeling a bit down after realizing that fact.

"Anyways," Sakura said, "It's starting to get a bit late. I think we've tested our skills enough. I'm impressed, Yoko, your attack power is pretty good!" _Everything else sucks though..._

"Really!?" She beamed and squealed, "Thank you! You're really strong, Haruno-san! Your brute strength is amazing!"

"Thank you! Oh, I'll walk you guys to the main gates!" she replied and lead the way.

As they approached the village's entrance, the Yamanaka's Flower Shop came to view and as soon as they passed by it, Sakura yelled, "Neji!" and pointed to the opposite direction.

As expected, Yoko immediately made a response and turned that way, looking for the victim. "Where, where, where?" she asked.

While the other genin was distracted, Sakura, grabbed Kankuro by the hood and dragged him into the florist shop. Ino, who was at the counter playing with her hair, looked up and her eyes widened with surprise.

"Sakura? Kankuro? What are you two doing here? Don't tell me you two are dating-" Ino was cut off by her friend's hand, which covered her mouth. Sakura pointed at Kankuro, then at Yoko who was outside, spinning around in circles as she tried to look for Neji. Understanding the basis of the situation, Ino grinned at Kankuro mischievously and rushed over to a small bouquet of a mixture of flowers for sale and handed it to him. Not giving him time to retort, the two of them pushed him out the door and waved goodbye.

"Bye, now!" They said in unison.

Kankuro glared at them, "Why, you...!"

"Kankuro-nii, is something wrong?" Yoko demanded, tilting her head to one side.

The boy quickly hid the bouquet behind him and shook his head, "N-nope! Let's get going! Temari and Gaara must miss us!"

Not able to sense the mood or notice what was in his hands, she shrugged, and the two of them left the village. As they walked down the path towards the Land of Wind, Kankuro took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, his face blushing red again. His hands were getting sweaty and it was starting to get harder for him to actually make a move.

Gathering all the courage he could muster, Kankuro muttered, "Uhm... Yoko... About Neji Hyuga..."

Yoko stopped and turned to him, "Yes?"

"Do you... like him? In the romantic way?" As soon as he asked that question, he wanted to dig up a hole and hide himself in it. _That's way too direct! Wait, but she's an idiot, so I guess this is okay? No, what am I doing!? This isn't like me!_

The girl laughed, "No, I just really admire him. My heart was taken by him when he helped me when we both fought against Spider-san. I don't like him in the romantic way... I think that I was just really moved by him. But... Why do you ask, Kankuro-nii?"

He froze on the spot, a bit startled by her question and started to squirm. "Uhm... I uh..." he shut his eyes and thrust the flowers in front of Yoko. _Let's just get this over with!_ "I... I like you, Yoko! Please go out with me!"

"I like you, too, Kankuro-nii," Yoko smiled.

"No, I mean, I like you in the romantic way!" Kankuro said. _That hole should be ready for me to dive in!_

The girl's expression turned into one of surprise and her entire face grew pink of embarrassment, "K-Kankuro-nii!?"

* * *

**This is.. the longest chapter I've ever written... EVER *gasp* *pant***

**I'm so proud of myself... over 3k 500 words! TT^TT *tears of joy***

**I added a pairing in the description~ KankuroXOC~ XD**

**Didn't expect this, did you? *wiggles eyebrows* Please review!**

**A short extra part...**

****Ino smiled at Sakura as soon as they were gone and asked, "Hey, you're... going to pay for those flowers, right?"

Sakura beamed back and yelled, "Hell, no!" before racing off at the speed of light.


End file.
